Teching Cupid's Arrow
by MagmarFire
Summary: Ash and May, wishing to wind down before the Great Tournament, end up being challenged to a really strange competition--one that, years ago, had helped Ash's and Gary's friendship become ripped to shreds. Advanceshipping, SatoHaru, AAMayL, AshxMay, etc.
1. Beginnings

**Yep, MagmarFire's back in action! I apologize if you've been waiting for the next installment of _The Master Sword Chronicles_, but this idea popped up, and I just really wanted to go through with it. Don't worry; I still haven't given up on it, and I've made more progress on it since my last update. Rest assured, it'll come out one of these days. :) **

**Now, then, anywho, I told you guys that I'm an Advanceshipper, too, and this is the result! After a few weeks, Advanceshipping Day was announced for today (November 21). So, hey, I really wanted to contribute. This is my token to offer, so I hope you all enjoy it! So here we go! I give you _Teching Cupid's Arrow_!**

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_**Teching Cupid's Arrow**_

_Event I: Beginnings_

…_I've heard legends of that person…How he plunged into enemy territory…How he saved his homeland…_

It was a cool summer's morning in the Kanto Region, and the sun, much like a child about to awaken from a good night's slumber, poked her head out from the eastern horizon sleepily. In a long yawn, she basked the dew-coated ground with golden rays of light. The Pidgey, no longer inactive from the calming night, began their daily rounds anew for the search for food for their young, whom they nurtured and passed on their simple views of the world to ever since the smooth transition of the seasons a few weeks prior.

The sound of a particular small, yellow mouse contently snoozing away the last few minutes of civil dawn carried itself through the gentle breeze. Some of the crepuscular bug Pokémon who heard it immediately fell into a desire to retreat into the forest and spend the rest of the day refreshing themselves for when the sweet aura of twilight would perfume the earth once again.

He, too, was replenishing whatever little was left to regain of his lost strength from the trials of the previous day. From having not been at a Center for the past week or so, scratches and small burns were somewhat common on the poor Pokémon's body; and the untidy, partially dusty fur easily screamed, "Fortnight in the wilderness!" For one of his small body constitution, however, he appeared to shrug it off quite well and continued sleeping.

His master, a mature yet determined black-haired boy of about sixteen, was quietly dreaming a couple feet away. Unlike his partner's dreams, which were often crammed with rows upon rows of ketchup bottles, his were more serious—meditative, if you will. For years, his dream of one day becoming the greatest Trainer in the world had stayed alive, burning with as flaming of passion as when he got his first Pokémon. Never once did he stop short and give up his dream for easier goals, and the path along it filled his being with all sorts of experiences: friendship, perseverance, excitement, danger, and vision.

He was rising to the top, he always thought. He always knew that he was making progress, and by no means did his hard work ever withhold any from him. The firm eye on his goal hardly blinked—and with the Great Tournament only a couple months away, most of his thoughts dwelled on training his Pokémon and tweaking his battle style to be in tip-top shape…except the rest were focused on when his next large meal would be, of course.

Finally, a second Trainer, whom the first knew really well, obliviously snoozed farther away still, about an arm's length away from the charred fire pit left abandoned by countless other Trainers who chose to explore Viridian Forest and add strength to their teams. As the somewhat cool weather kicked in overnight, she curled up tighter into her sleeping bag and kept some of her warmth trapped inside. Her brown hair struggled to keep its inverted V-shape, but she herself cared more about sleep than her looks at the current time.

A sweet, cheerful girl about one or two years the boy's junior, she had begun traveling with him and his Pikachu after her bike had been completely obliterated by a well-aimed Electric-type attack from the latter. While surprised and, needless to say, angered by it at first, she didn't have the heart to stay mad at them forever. And after a little convincing, the boy let her travel with him (her response being a quiet, celebratory, "Yes!"…which the boy was blissfully unaware of).

During their travels, her experiences were similar, while still different in specificity. The twosome, along with others, fought, laughed, cried, hurt, and succeeded together. It was from the beginning of that fateful day of meeting that an unbreakable bond was formed—one that transcended great distances and time. It grew and flourished until it became as great friendship as it was that day in the woods.

A loud yawn sounded through the branches, although his two companions didn't seem to care. With a groggy sigh and a crack of his neck, he quietly got up and reached for his knapsack. He grasped the zipper with a slightly fatigued hand and opened it up, afterwards reaching deep down through old snack bags, Poké Balls, and other supplies for his canteen. He shook it slightly and heard the loud sloshing of water, which somewhat disappointed him. _Not much left…_ he thought to himself, frowning. He twisted the cap off of the container, lifted it up to his mouth, and took a swig.

After only two or three gulps, the water was all gone, save for only a few drops. He clutched his stomach as it grumbled angrily at him; it seemed to want something that was actual _food_ rather than a mere liquid. He looked back into his knapsack in the hopes of finding something substantial. After digging through some dirty clothes, he eventually found two granola bars. _It's not the best…but it's better than nothing._

As if his mind were under the utmost control of his stomach, he tore open one of the wrappers and opened his mouth to take a bite. Just when he was about to snap his jaw on the food, however, he heard a stirring: a small yawn filled his ears as his small yellow buddy woke up and smelled something edible. Ears twitching and nose sniffing, it tracked the scent over to his Trainer.

"Pika!" the Pokémon greeted happily.

"G'morning, Pikachu," his Trainer returned the greeting, gently scratching the mouse's long yellow, black-tipped ears. "Did you sleep well?"

"Chu, Pikapi, pikachu ka," Pikachu nodded, licking his lips with his large, black button eyes on the bar in his Trainer's hand.

Noticing the want on his Pokémon's face, he broke the bar down the middle and willingly surrendered one of the halves. Pikachu, happy with the delectable, albeit meager, breakfast, immediately began nibbling joyfully on the grains. "Chu!" he said, his stomach returning positive sentiments.

"You're welcome," his Trainer smiled. Looking back at his half of the bar, however, a sad look formed on his face. Sighing, he said, "Guess we'd better wrap this trip up and head back to Viridian City and pick up some more food, huh?"

"Pika," the Pokémon agreed.

The Trainer stood up and paced around the campsite, his granola half in his hand, which was sooner than likely in the next ten seconds to be completely in his belly. Looking up toward the pale sky, he thought he might've seen an elegantly flying Fearow scan the earth vigilantly for some unfortunate prey. Off to the side, some wary Caterpie saw the Fearow, too; and with a small cry, they high-tailed it into the lush, green bushes. He chuckled at the perceived cuteness of the quick scramble of the small bug Pokémon, but the frown came back to his face a few seconds later.

Noticing his Trainer's unease, and with his granola bar completely devoured, he asked, "Pikapi, chu chu pi chu ka pikachu?"

"Oh!" he jumped, his frown artificially gone. "No, I'm fine, Pikachu. Just a little tired, that's all."

The mouse could see through his façade, however. "Chu? Pika ka chu pi?"

"I could hardly sleep…" the Trainer yawned, covering his mouth and rubbing his eyes. "Just kept thinking about the tournament coming up…"

"Ka chu?"

"Scared?" he cried. "Of course not!" To prove his point, he put on a determined look, one that he had always been notorious for, known by most, if not all, of his opponents. The sharp eyes, the fierce grin, and (unbeknownst to him) the slightly-flaring nostrils were the dead giveaways of his "drive" being tapped into. When Pikachu was not convinced, though, the trainer's shoulders drooped, his face went back to normal, and his eyes stared at his feet. "Ah, who am I kidding…? I'm a nervous wreck."

The Pokémon approached his trainer's shoes and climbed up to his shoulders, licking his cheek in a futile attempt to comfort him.

"Thanks, buddy…" the boy said, massaging his partner's head.

Just then, when the sun was finally over the horizon, a loud caw came from deep in the woods. It was a warning sign that the birds were ready to begin their daily hunt. For the travelers, on the other hand, it was an alarm clock that required no power outlet or batteries. With a small stir, the girl curled in her sleeping bag slowly got up, keeping the bag wrapped around her body like a chrysalis for warmth. Yawning quietly, she mumbled sleepily, "Good morning, Ash. Good morning, Pikachu…"

"G'morning, May," Ash returned, smiling. "Did you sleep well?"

"Uh-huh," she nodded. "It was a bit chilly, but I managed to catch some z's." She looked down at the midpoint of her body as a sound that was the relative equivalent of her sleeping bag burping practically exploded out into the open, almost as loudly as the bird Pokémon's call. "Heh, guess I'm a bit hungry," she laughed, all the while being a bit embarrassed. "Do we have any food left?"

"Only this," Ash said, tossing the second granola bar in her direction. His aim wasn't particularly great, to say the least—not to mention that with her bag wrapped around her like a cocoon, she wouldn't have been able to catch it. It grazed past her side and landed a few feet behind her. He saw the imminent scowl headed his way and quickly said, "Gah, I'm sorry! My throwing's a bit off, it looks like."

Her frown lightened up after only a couple seconds, eventually turning into a chuckle. "It's all right." Hopping into a pivot, she eagerly bounced toward her small meal, much like a young puppy would fetch a fresh dog treat. Ash found the behavior rather cute and laughed to himself; however, his entertainment was cut short when the girl lost her balance while bending over to pick up the bar and toppled into the dirt with full force.

"M-May!" Ash cried as he dashed toward his friend, Pikachu nearly falling off his shoulder. He kneeled down and offered his hand, which she graciously accepted. As their hands locked, he tugged at her, and she easily flew up and landed her face in his chest.

And so she stood like that, her cheeks slowly tinting to a light red and her heart pounding in her chest. She rather enjoyed the experience of being that close to him, but as soon as she noticed that he could probably feel her heartbeat, she began to panic slightly, which only made it worse.

After what seemed like a minute, he asked, concern in his voice, "Are you all right?"

"Y-yeah…" she said dazedly as she spaced herself from him a bit and avoided his golden-brown eyes. She prayed to the heavens that he didn't notice her slight, but sudden, change in skin tone—but by how he turned around and swung his bag around his shoulder without saying so much as a word, she, with relief, took for granted that he neither noticed nor suspected anything of the sort.

As May saw Pikachu greeting her with one of his famous ankle cuddles, she picked him up and hugged him. "Did you sleep well, too, Pikachu?" she asked sweetly.

"Pika!" the mouse Pokémon cheered, which earned him a small peck on the nose.

Ash saw as Pikachu rested on May's head and prepared for an enjoyable ride. He crossed his arms and smiled, the floral aroma of a nearby bush filling his nostrils. _There's something…different about May…_ he thought while his two friends were trying to enjoy getting ready to depart for the day. _I can't put my finger on it, but there's this strange air about her… Gosh, I hope she's not getting sick._

After she collected her things, May returned somewhat swiftly, although her hunger was an obvious hurdle to her energy. "Ready?"

"Only when you are," Ash replied.

Then the three were off. They took the path down south, back to whence they came. Luckily for them, the path back was plainly visible, almost to the point of being a natural trail. Long and narrow patches of grass pointed them to their destination, and a couple Rattata gnawing on their food paid no heed to the travelers. May took the opportunity here to open her bar and munch on it as they walked. She was disappointed that it hardly had any of the necessary mass to satisfy the hunger pangs.

"I miss Brock…" she sighed sadly with her mouth partially full of granola.

Ash's eye twitched after hearing the familiar name. "Yeah… I do, too," he coughed. "I wonder how he's doing?"

Brock, the former Gym Leader of Pewter City, had had begun traveling with Ash (and his other friend Misty of Cerulean City, with whom he kind of lost touch a year or so back) shortly after he had been awarded—or given, rather, but he gave much effort to avoid remembering—his first Gym Badge for the Indigo League. To him, Brock had become much like an older brother to him; any one of his past adventures never failed to force him to remember the dark-skinned, squinty-eyed young man. Whether it was his awkward behavior toward the opposite sex or his extravagant cooking, the latter of which was one of the associations he best remembered and missed the most, he could never avoid its nostalgia.

A month or so after the Sinnoh League, however, Brock left; he just simply disappeared without saying so much as a formal goodbye—only leaving a small note with the following:

_Ash,_

_I must say that it was a joy looking after you and Pikachu for all these years, but I'm afraid that it is time for us to depart. You and your Pokémon have gotten much stronger since when we first met, and I'm at large to say that I'm going to miss the times when I was there to back you up and see the sights. But then came the fork in the road…_

_Your dream and mine differ, I'm afraid. You aim to become a Master, while I aspire to become a world-renowned Breeder. It's gotten to the point where it's simply become too hard to follow our paths and travel together at the same time. No, don't try to find me and talk me out of it. We both know what we need to do; now we just need to get out there and do it._

_But don't worry; we'll see each other again. Never give up!_

_--Brock_

His friend Dawn left in a similar way. After the League and when Ash decided to leave Sinnoh to continue his travels, Dawn decided to stay behind. Her reasoning was…exactly like Brock's, he thought. "I'm a Coordinator, and you're a Trainer," she said. "I need to follow my way." And so she did. But the insistence to stay wasn't as cold as it sounds, no; it's not like she left to spite him and because she thought their sibling-like relationship was too creepy or anything like that. She, too, simply thought that it was time for them to part.

Only a year later did May decide to join him again after placing in the top five in her Johto Contests. She figured that a small break would give her a fresh continuation in her appeals, and her Pokémon unquestionably seemed to like her choice. She knew taking a small vacation in Kanto was perfect for them, and it was less stressful on her, too.

They both reminisced on the past for a few minutes before May broke the silence. "I'm sure he's all right," she said as she swallowed the rest of her bar, sweatdropping when her stomach unleashed a mighty roar in interruption. "Oh, I sure miss his cooking…"

Ash grunted silently when he ducked below a low branch. "I do, too… His stew was the best! Remember the thick chunks of beef and potatoes soaked in gravy?"

Her mouth watered at the greatly appealing thought. "Yeah… And the rice balls and the ramen and the…" she trailed off as drool began to trip from the corner of her mouth. Ash was almost afraid that she'd become rabid and eat him in desperation for the food. She, noticing the small mess on her face, wiped it off with a nervous laugh. "Sorry about that." She looked to the side and put a hand behind her head in embarrassment, keeping her eyes focused on the Pidgey keeping an eye on them.

"Haha, no problem. We should be there in a little while, though." As the thoughts of Brock's cooking flowed through his mind like a warm, broth-filled river, he picked up his pace, forcing May to quicken hers in tandem and Pikachu to hang on to her more tightly. The forest gradually grew brighter as they approached its edge. All three were glad that during their exploration in the woods, they did not go too far in and risk spending a longer time than they had to. Already they thought their stomachs were beginning to digest themselves.

After about fifteen minutes of fast walking, the forest cleared completely, and a large wooden sign reading "VIRIDIAN FOREST" stood to the side. Right up ahead was the large group of white buildings that completely replaced the natural landscape. Where there was once grass, there was solid concrete and long, straight paths of asphalt; and where there were once trees, there were gray and white buildings adorned with fancy signs, logos, and ads, although some were unfortunate enough to be scribbled on with spray paint and depict words and scenes that made Ash cringe.

Upon seeing the first transparently obvious signs of civilization, Ash, May, and Pikachu practically jumped in celebration. "Finally!" Ash cheered, his mouth already salivating with the thought of a stomach-bursting meal. "C'mon, guys!"

They wasted no time and quickly ran down the road, scanning the shops for the Pokémon Center with excited smiles on their faces. But then…a twinge of interest struck May's heart, and her smile was replaced with a frown—not one that expressed disappointment; it was more like one of curiosity.

_Ash seems to be so simple-minded…_ she thought with her aqua-colored eyes now staring at the side of his face. _When he's not out there training for the next battle, he's either trying to help people or wondering what's on the menu._ She chuckled to herself, but Ash couldn't hear it.

"Hmm… Bookstore… Drug store… Bowling alley…" he mumbled, tracing his finger forward as he scanned the buildings. When they passed the streetlight, Ash's eyes lit up. "A-ha! There it is!" The Pokémon Center was looming about a quarter mile away, just as bright and clean as every other Center they visited over the years. "There it is, May! Keep up!" He picked up his pace once more, and by now, it was nearly a sprint.

May had a bit of a hard time keeping up, and therefore, Pikachu had a bit of a hard time holding on from all the rocking. "Wait up, Ash!" she called ahead. _He's so hasty, isn't he?_ she contemplated, chuckling once again. Then she noticed the unique contour and color of his face, his slim but sturdy physique, and the broadness of his shoulders. _Heh… Well, that only makes him cuter…_

Her eyes widened to about the size of softballs when she realized what she was thinking. She instantly released the lock of her eyes on his body and whistled to the side to get her mind off of the matter. Unfortunately for her, however, Ash took notice as he looked to the side and decided to slow down. "Uh, May?"

"Yes?" she inquired, her voice filled with fabricated innocence.

"Your face…" He paused. "It's… It's all red."

Her jaw dropped slightly, and she pressed her hands to her face. "What?" she asked incredulously. "Red?"

"Like a beet."

_Oh, my gosh, I gotta think my way out of this, quick!_ She looked to the side and bit her lip, trying to formulate a response that would get her off the hook. "Uh… You think it could be from the running we're doing?"

"I dunno…" Ash replied slowly, coming to a stop and crossing his arms. "We've only been running for, like, ten seconds. Are you feeling all right?"

May also stopped and turned to face him. "Of course! I'm hungry, but I'm feeling well." She turned her head to the side to face Pikachu's yellow face by her shoulder. "You feeling okay, Pikachu?"

"Pika!" the mouse answered with a lick on her cheek.

Ash sighed with dismissal. "Okay…" He continued jogging toward the Center, leaving May and Pikachu to follow him.

"Whew… Thanks for that, Pikachu," she whispered in Pikachu's ear, petting his head. "That was too close…"

Within a few more minutes, the gang finally reached the Pokémon Center. Ash reached the double doors first, yanking them open in complete eagerness to heal his Pokémon and to purchase his food. May and Pikachu were next. The latter was just as excited about food as his Trainer was, so he hopped off of May's shoulder and chased him down. Nurse Joy was typing at the computer, but when she saw the boy and his Pokémon approach the counter, she dropped what she was doing and put on the smile that her kind was well known for.

"Welcome to the Viridian City Pokémon Center!" she greeted warmly. Ash returned the greeting and offered his five Poké Balls and lifted Pikachu up to the counter. Joy accepted them all and called for her Chansey to come and take them to get healed.

While that business was being taken care of, Ash turned to see May standing at the door. "You want me to take your Poké Balls to the counter for you?" he asked kindly.

"Uh…" she looked to the side and saw the buffet table, complete with chicken, bread rolls, rice balls, ramen, and many other dishes that were yet to be eaten. Eyeing the porcelain plates, she dropped the balls into his hands, zipped over to the table, grabbed one of the plates, and began piling on the food.

Ash narrowed his eyes as he continued to witness May's strange behavior. "Are you sure you're not sick, May…?" _Are you trying to hide something from me?_ he pondered in fear. _I hope I didn't do anything to offend you._ Afraid as he might've been, he attempted to get his mind of the matter and took her Pokémon to the counter to get healed.

Meanwhile, as May's plates got completely full of food, she quickly walked over to the nearest booth, sat, and began shoveling the food into her mouth. Bread, soup, veggies, and meat—all that and more were soon ingested. But after a minute…she stopped. Her mind went back to when she was staring at Ash and how she tried to weasel her way out of talking about it. _What's going on here?_ she mulled. _Am I—_

Her train of thought was interrupted from loud orchestrated music coming from across the room. A large group of Trainers, maybe a group of thirty to forty, was gathered around a large television screen, most in the group with a game controller in their hands. A large, arc-like chair sat in front of the screen, a circular coffee table in between holding a small, white console with four cables coming from one of the sides.

The music, driven by brass and vocals, was epic and dramatic—it was music one would often associate with exciting competitions with worthy contenders, kind of like the Pokémon League competitions, only with much greater stakes. It almost made her want to leave her food and to check to see what all the fuss was about, but then she remembered how hungry she was and continued eating her meal in silence.

Just then, Ash came with his plate of delectable eats and sat down across from her. They looked at each other for a few seconds before May cracked and spoke up against their awkward stillness. "So, how's Pikachu?"

"He's still getting healed," he replied simply. "How's, uh…your food?"

"Excellent!" she replied with a smile, soon returning to her potatoes and gravy.

"Uh, listen, May…" Ash began, a bit unsure of himself. He noticed May's face twisting a bit with dread and held back his comment for a couple seconds. "Er, you've been acting a bit…odd lately. Are you sure you're not sick? Do you have any allergies or something?"

"Ash," she said with conviction, some bread still in her mouth, "I'm fine. I appreciate your concern, but nothing—" She was interrupted by a sudden change in music. It kept its strong orchestral style, but it was mixed in with the voices of the people around the television and the distinctive sounds of menu selections.

At first, both were slightly annoyed from the sudden interruption, but what really got Ash's and May's attention, however, was the deep, booming voice that soon filled the Center. It was the complete definition of energy: fast and intangible, but full of force. The voice came from the large speakers by the screen—and some on the ceiling—and took complete control over their conversation. Their heads snapped toward the screen…all because of three simple syllables:

"_FREE-FOR-ALL!!!"_

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**So, then... Yes, the concept is rather odd, but hey, it's something I've wanted for a while. I dearly hope that you leave a review; your feedback is, as per usual, greatly appreciated!**

**Until next time, folks!**


	2. Rivalry Anew

**Well, time for Event II, eh? Looks like it! Thanks for all the positive reviews so far, guys!**

**Now, to address at least some of your questions/comments... Firstly, Gryphon Turboclaw, yeah, I was bound to make at least one mistake of that sort. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. I suppose that would have made May's ranking be in the top four.**

**And LuciferIX, I suppose the "odd concept" I mentioned wasn't as overwrought in the event as I had anticipated. Yes, I assure you that it will become much more obvious during this one.**  
**Anywho, without any further ado, here's the next event!**

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_Event II: Rivalry Anew_

_...I've heard legends of that person… How he traveled the breadth of the land, reducing all he touched to rubble…_

By now, Ash and May were too distracted by the hubbub around the television screen to do anything food related. Annoyed as they were by the lack of peace, although they had ironically gotten sick of it after all the time in the wild earlier that week, they reluctantly abandoned their food (Ash, however, rushed back for a quick second to nab a buttermilk biscuit off his plate) and slowly approached the crowd—May with a curious scowl, and Ash with a mouth now ringed with breadcrumbs.

The members of the crowd varied in age, likely from about thirteen to eighteen years, but their attitudes were all uniform—all had the same look of excitement, the identical set of determinated grins common to any contender of a large competition, and the occasional snort of laughter from cracked jokes that the two Trainers were too distracted to hear.

Four boys were lined up on the red leather couch with a controller held firmly in their hands. One of them, a large, burly boy of seventeen or eighteen years and about a good foot taller than Ash, sat at the left edge. His body size was so unrealistically out of proportion with his seat that he almost looked like an adult trying to fit in a preschooler's armchair. He was wearing a large, yellow, black-striped shirt that looked like it barely fit him; but he was wearing black jeans that almost looked like hefty garbage bags.

On his shoulder was a ruffled-feathered Spearow eyeing his master's controller suspiciously, as if it were rigged with explosives. As the huge teenager nervously flicked the control stick with his thumb, the tiny bird swiftly swooped down and attacked his hand with a sharp beak. As a small slab of skin was torn off from the attack, the Pokémon squawked in both anger and sincere apology, a strange combination.

"Zorro!" the teen snapped at the Spearow. "I told you not to do that!"

"Spear…" the bird mumbled, looking shyly away and hovering back onto his Trainer's shoulder. From then on out, no one heard a peep come out of his beak; in fact, he was so quiet it was as if he were no longer there.

The three boys sitting next to him—two being thirteen-year-old twins with matching blue and white outfits, and the last one being a blue-and-spiky-haired boy about Ash's age—giggled to themselves at the Pokémon's quirky behavior.

"Hehehe, looks like your Spearow's not very well behaved yet, Stan," chuckled the sixteen-year-old.

The large kid growled with grinding teeth. "Just choose your character, Matthew…" he mumbled with a glare in the twin's direction.

"My name's _Kad!_" the teen yelled defiantly before turning his head back to the screen. Stan simply shrugged off his complaint as if it were just a bug under his shoe, while the other two boys just ignored the spat and focused on the plasma screen without saying a word.

The image's background was mostly white, the exception being two bars at the top and bottom borders, the top blaring with the words, "2-minute KO fest!" Below that was a large nine-by-four grid occupied by profile images of various characters—the playable ones, most likely. Four strange, colored gloves slid across the grid, carrying polished tokens of the same respective colors as the four competitors carefully chose their characters.

A red glove bearing the letters "P1" dropped its token on a character on the top row. With a flash, a large brown ape wearing a red tie appeared on the bottom left in a red window, his presence declared to the world by the same booming, energetic voice: _"Donkey Kong!"_

Kad moaned with icy dread. "Donkey Kong _again_, Stan?"

"What's wrong?" Stan sneered in the disgruntled opponent's direction. "Afraid to lose?"

"Your Donkey Kong's freaking _cheap_, man," chirped the twin at the other edge of the couch.

"Bah. Babies, the bunch of you…"

The game's interface was rather foreign to May, accentuated by her index finger resting thoughtfully on her chin. "Ash," she said with narrowed eyes toward the strange menu. "What's this?"

Ash, as attentive as he was to May's question, didn't utter a sound. His eyes were completely glued to the screen, and it was as if his mouth had lost all power from his brain. Really, his new disposition was almost zombie-like, and May, still receiving no answer, was tempted to snap her fingers in front of his face—only she didn't want to inadvertently offend him.

He'd seen this kind of game before…way back when he was still a simple boy in Pallet Town…

"_C'mon, Ashy!" the spiky-and-brown-haired rival taunted the nine-year-old Ash Ketchum. "I'm itching to play!"_

"_Hold your horses, Gary! I…can't decide!"_

_It was a cloudy Saturday morning, and the sun hardly poked out from the covers of the misty sky for hours. The ground was damp from the recent drizzle, smelling fresh and vigorous like after every other shower of its kind. Contrasting the cozy temperature inside the house, however, was a chilly wind beating on the windows, a sign of winter soon approaching the Kanto Region._

_The two young boys were sitting in front of an old-modeled television set that Ash's mom had purchased at a garage sale a few years back. Padded with a fake wood pattern and hard plastic, it coughed up its dust with somewhat muffled sound and a questionable image quality, which Gary had ridiculed more often than Ash could take and still maintain complete sanity._

_Ash had been sliding his glove sprite over a similar character grid, having the hardest time deciding between two characters that would give him an edge and would finally let him beat his rival after a humiliating seventeen-to-zero losing streak: the yellow Pokémon Pikachu or the balanced, red-clad plumber that all could recognize as Mario. But after more constant begging on Gary's side, he gave in and went with the former._

_Gary smiled and chortled to himself arrogantly, rebuking decision as if he had planned it from the start. After a button press, they (well, Ash actually had no choice in the matter) carefully selected the stage. In a snap, the camera focused on a large skyscraper, as sturdy as metal, surrounded by other buildings of its kind, complete with a wide, majestic mountain range off in the distance._

_With the opening of a Poké Ball and a barrel explosion, the two combatants took the stage and faced each other like colorful statues as the announcer counted down. "Three, two, one, GO!" And without further ado, the match had begun._

"_This is gonna be fun…" Gary mumbled with anticipation as his character began charging up a mighty punch…_

"A-Ash?" May finally interrupted, shaking the boy's arm.

He forcibly shook the distraction out of his mind and turned to face the concerned girl at his side. "Hmm? What?" he responded in a murmur, like he had just woken up from a twelve-hour nap. Although his almost-mindless state had disappeared, he still looked slightly disorientated.

"Are _you_ okay?"

Whatever disturbing thought he had of the past as of now was long gone. No longer burdened by his reminiscence, he smiled sincerely. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

The two started as a loud _DING_ stabbed at the air, coming right from the hospital portion of the Center. Within a few seconds, the double doors in the back opened up, a chipper Nurse Joy stepping radiantly into the lobby. She was pushing a small stretcher carrying seventeen Poké Balls and Ash's Pikachu, who was happily munching on some freshly picked strawberries.

"Pikapi!" the mouse called to Ash with a red-stained mouth. Hopping off the stretcher, he dashed across the room and jumped into his Trainer's outstretched arms.

"Hey, Pikachu!" he laughed as he held his Pokémon in a tight hug. He knew from personal experience to avoid squeezing him too hard—or else he'd the risk of suffering a low-amperage, albeit still painful, electric shock from the cute, red pouches on the small one's cheeks. The messy-haired boy broke the hug and let his friend perch on his shoulder once again. "Feeling better?"

"Pika!" Pikachu replied. His small tongue was having a good time trying to lick any sweet, red juices left on his lips from the strawberries. As he got the very last of it, he held his now-full stomach and sighed contently. May giggled at the ensuing cuteness and rubbed his yellow head with little resistance. Pikachu returned positive feedback, practically purring like a kitten.

Unfortunately, they were interrupted once more—this time, though, by the rasping sounds of cheers and applause that shook the windows like thunder. Quickly turning their attention back to the screen, the three found that it had come from an action of one of the combatants. Of course, one quick look at Stan confirmed this, as his mouth stretched to the sides of his face in a wide grin, like he had accomplished the goal of making a powerful opponent Pokémon faint in a battle of high stakes. Kad, however, was not amused, and growled at the attack in irritation.

"C'mon, Pikachu…" he chanted every so often in an undertone, his fingers wildly switching back and forth between the buttons on his controller as if he were guessing which button did what.

The stage bore quite a striking resemblance to one of Ash's Pokémon League tournament battlefields. A dark blue, star-dotted sky blanketed the stadium, lit by the numerous lights that shined at an eye-shielding intensity. At the center of the green-matted stage was a typical Poké Ball emblem lying next to two thin platforms a few feet above the ground. The audience was bustling with excitement, but with the shifting camera amidst the pandemonium of the battle, every person's individual head was really hard to see clearly.

A large, brown ape was now busy attacking with a mighty, earth-shaking ground pound, while a buff bounty hunter and Kad's Pikachu were launched back a good distance, a soccer ball losing its fire-like aura and tumbling back down to the ground. Another warrior, a red-caped, blue-haired swordsman wearing bunny ears, soared up into the air like a ninja and flew back down to the ground with an over-the-head twirl of his large sword.

May looked at the bottom of the screen and saw four gauges, each with a profile picture and the name of its respective character. The highlight to her, though, was the strange percentage measurements of each character—Stan's Donkey Kong at 48%; Kad's Pikachu at 104%; and the twins' Ike and Captain Falcon at 13% and 78%, respectively. She raised an eyebrow as the Pikachu managed to land a rising blow on the large ape from the edge of the stage. As the attack was blown, Stan's percentage went _up_, not _down_.

_What a…strange game_, she thought as she watched it in skepticism. She had, on very rare occasions, seen her brother Max playing Pokémon fighting simulations games before, but for games like this, she half-expected to see life bars and people biting the dust or something like that, not flying around like rockets.

Kad's Pikachu grabbed a small pink-and-white capsule that appeared a few feet away and tossed it up into the air like a hot potato, and the Ike jumped head-long into it. There was a white flash on the screen and a small gasp from the audience, for a rainbow-colored ball bearing two crossed lines at right angles popped out of nowhere in front of the swordsman.

In an instant, the four competitors' eyes popped open. "Ooh! Ooh!" Kad sung. "Mine! Mine!"

Just as soon as it appeared, the four battlers chased after it like piranhas after a leg of meat. With a powerful forward swing of his sword, Ike smacked Donkey Kong off the screen with another explosion of applause, and only a second afterward, a pillar of fire shot out from where Donkey Kong had disappeared. May, her deep blue eyes wide, put her hand over her mouth in shock at such barbarianism.

"Oh, darn it! Dan, I hate you!" Stan yelled to the side, his character soon floating back down from the sky angelically and returning to the fray.

"You'll get no sympathy from _me_," the twin right next to Kad said slyly. The others responded with a small fit of laughter…except, of course, for Stan, who fumed to himself and continued the game with his mouth clamped shut in spite.

Steam rose from the stage, and like in the Indigo League with the changing of the battlefield into various elemental types, the stage began to evolve into a dynamo-driven machine. With two floating platforms on the left side and conveyor belts on either side, it was almost like the stage didn't want them to get the strange ball.

Ash heard Pikachu growl as he laid his eyes on the humanoid creature standing between the two platforms. It was mostly yellow, black stripes and thunder-bolt-like patterns on its arms, legs, and chest—there was even one that streaked across its eyes like a headband. Two black tails wiggled in its backside like snakes trying to hypnotize prey. It was none other than Electivire, and Ash knew very well about the one Gary used to defeat him in that one-on-one battle a few years back, another one of those victories that hindered his confidence a little.

There was another loud grunt, and Kad's Pikachu, under the mercy of an upward strike from Ike's sword, jetted off the screen with a contrail of smoke left behind. As the pillar of fire returned, he groaned at the loss. "Not me, too…" He clenched his teeth, wanting immediate gratification for revenge. He could see it coming… He would get them back…

Kad's Pikachu, after jumping off the angelic platform, hopped a short distance and attacked the ball in midair. With a shatter, it disappeared, and the Pikachu's body had acquired a glowing aura like it had just been ignited with magical fire. The screen instantly grew dark, and in a split second, the camera zoomed in on the small mouse.

"Oh, _no…_" Stan whimpered. The following events would haunt him for however long he had to remember: the mouse reached for the sky with glowing yellow eyes and cried, "Pika…_CHUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!_" instantly turning into a large ball of blue electricity and flying around the screen at a dangerous speed.

Kad was the one smiling like a maniac now, and with a forced laugh, he charged across the screen and ran into whomever he could shock to death. A large electrical spark exploded like a gunshot, and Ike was sent flying to the left side of the screen. Luckily for him, though, he didn't explode and managed to reach the stage back with only another shock from the Pikachu's powerful attack. Captain Falcon, however, wasn't so fortunate. A loud cry of pain sounded from the speakers as the bounty hunter disappeared from view, falling to his death, a red "+1" appearing in front of Pikachu's picture at the bottom.

"Pika!" Ash's Pokémon cheered from his shoulder with moon-sized eyes. He was obviously enjoying the bedlam, and like a child glued to a television cartoon, he didn't take his eyes off the screen for one second.

Only about forty-five seconds remained on the timer at the top-right corner, and the rest of the battle was just complete chaos. Charging up punches, unleashing thunder strikes, throwing items left and right, and launching the others off the screen… For any newcomer spectator, it was just simply hard to keep track of all the action at once.

"HAHA!" Stan cheered to himself as he landed a fully charged punch in Ike's direction, launching him off the screen like a baseball. "Score one for the master!"

"Oh, please…" the twin closest to Kad said. "I was at, like, 170-something percent damage. Of _course_ I was a goner."

Before long, the four players were back to biffing each other with punches, throws, kicks, and laser gun blasts (and, in the rare instance, an explosion that launched someone off the screen instantly). Ike, throwing a large crate that appeared to his side, caused yet another rainbow ball to appear on the screen. In an instant, the others rushed to break the ball open first, knocking each other back to hinder progress. It was like they were fighting over an oversized jawbreaker, but before long, Stan's Donkey Kong busted it open with his head.

The fiery aura enveloped him and bestowed the dramatic glowing yellow eyes. Stan quickly mashed the red button on his controller, and his character immediately got out a pair of large bongo drums and began to…beat them.

_Wait. _Bongos_?_ Ash thought with a stupor-like stare.

The epic battle music in the stadium grew quiet and was replaced by the sounds of a catchy tune and the cries of pain from the characters being launched by powerful sound waves. This continued for a few seconds before one powerful blast of sound knocked an already-launched Pikachu to the side of the screen.

Stan smiled with satisfaction…because he knew the clock was winding down. "FIVE!" the energetic voice returned to the speakers.

"No, no, NO!" Kad cried, mashing buttons to get back at the giant monkey. Unfortunately, though, there was just too little time.

"FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE! _TIME!_"

Then the match came to a swift slowdown, and then it came to a stop entirely. With the screen changing to a strange world with twilit clouds, the four players then found their characters in a position lineup. To most of their dismay, however…

"The winner is…_Donkey Kong!_" the narrator declared amidst a catchy fanfare, Donkey Kong himself beating his chest like Tarzan into a proud victory pose.

"Hehe… That's how you play, boys!" Stan bragged, smirking to the side and instilling irritation into the runners-up. With that, the four players dropped their controllers and walked away. The two twins and Stan stayed in the audience; Kad just said nothing, but instead of staying in the crowd, he disappointedly walked to the counter without looking back.

Ash and May went back to pick up the Poké Balls they had nearly forgotten about, the former looking a bit hurt, and the latter having trouble repressing laughter.

"Pika…" the Pokémon on his shoulders said in attempt to comfort the Trainer. He, however, seemed to ignore it and just concentrated on placing the balls back on his belt.

"That guy…" he mumbled. "He's…"

"He's a jerk, I know," said the boy in front of them, who was also picking up his six Poké Balls from the stretcher. Kad's sad attitude didn't change a bit; his face was gray, and his blue hair was spiked around ear level, but his eyes were hidden from view. His hands shifted slowly across the three piles of balls and recognized one as his own. "But what do you care?"

"Yeah, Ash," May said, putting her balls in her pack one by one, scrutinizing them from top to bottom to make sure she didn't grab the wrong ones. "After all, it's just a stupid game."

Kad's frown changed to a stabbing glare. "What did you say?" he asked warningly. "A _stupid game_!?"

"Well…_duh_!" May retorted, putting her hands on her hips and standing her ground. "There was nothing but chaos! I could hardly tell what was going on. At least in Pokémon battles and contests, you can plan your attacks and execute them accordingly. This is just a big button-masher!"

Kad crossed his arms, his zigzag-patterned shirt loosely fitting him, and leaned in closer. "Look, cutie face, (With that, May stepped back, now uncomfortable.) you say you're a Trainer?"

"I'm a Coordinator, mostly."

Just then, Kad was in a state of wild laughter; nearly everyone who was present at the Center turned to the counter with confused looks. Many, many pairs of eyes were now staring at them; and the heavy pressure got May's blood pumping.

"What's so funny!?" she yelled, quieting down the mirth.

"You're a Coordinator, and yet you have the audacity to label this game as _stupid_?"

"Hey, Contests aren't as easy as you think they are!"

"Oh, yeah?" Kad challenged the girl. "Contests look like artsy-fartsy _beauty pageants_ to me."

"Contests are practically a different thing than battling entirely!" From Ash's point of view, May's mouth was sprouting fangs as if they were planted and watered, and she looked ready to strike like a snake at the slightest provocation. He found it wise to back off a couple feet and say nothing that would cause him sudden grief. "You don't just go in hoping to win with guns blazing! It's a lot deeper than that!"

Kad's face was beginning to turn red from anger, too. "And _you_ don't just go in hoping that randomly pressing buttons and unleashing attacks will let you achieve victory. You have to plan your attacks here, too! And on the side, you have to outsmart your opponents with mind games to slip 'em up and punish 'em! If you don't know what you're doing, you're pretty much committing suicide!"

"And what 'mind games' were being used in there? I didn't see anything. I _couldn't_ see anything!"

Kad turned his back to the girl, his arms firmly crossed. "Then you were being mindgame'd yourself, sexy."

Ash's face was now completely frozen in fear--with a gulp, he could've sworn he heard a steel cord snap by his side. He was tempted to run like a madman and hide in the nearest bomb shelter, but he stayed rooted to the spot. He wanted to voice his concern to avoid the otherwise inevitable, but his mouth was glued shut.

With the crack of her knuckles, May was ready to claw the guy's eyes out. _"DON'T CALL ME THAT!"_ Like a lioness pouncing on a helpless gazelle, she leapt into the air with her nails outstretched. Wind rushed past her hair as she was completely off the ground, head over heels, to tackle the guy, beat him to a pulp, and donate whatever was left to medical science.

Fortunately, though, Ash grabbed her before she could do anything to the guy—he clutched her around her stomach, trapping her, and braced himself for any struggle. At first, her arms were waving around wildly, attempting to seize the boy's blue hair and wear it as a hat, but after she realized who it was who was holding her down, she relaxed… However, her heart never stopped beating like the drums of that oversized ape.

The thought of Ash holding her filled her mind like fragrant smoke, and the blood that totally defied gravity and rushed to her head almost made her faint. Her breathing slowed down dramatically, so all that was pulsing through her body in strong vibrations was her heart alone.

Kad turned around and noticed May's sudden change in mood, grinning as widely as when Stan did earlier. "Oh? What's this?"

May suspected the worst and tried hiding her face. "Uh…what's…what?"

"Aww… How cute!" he taunted playfully. "I had no idea you two were going steady!"

"W-w-we are not!" May retorted unconvincingly, still trying to hide her crimson face from everyone watching. "Take that back!"

"Look, everyone!" Kad called out to the people around the television. "We have a couple of lovebirds in the house!"

May's heart almost stopped when she heard the game being paused and the spectators turning to see what the entire ruckus was about. Seeing Ash holding May's waist was the cue for them to "Aww!" in unison, which Ash responded to with letting go of her and turning his head in instantaneous embarrassment. Fortunately, Pikachu, feeling the distress coming from the two Trainers, leapt down and threatened them all with glaring eyes and sparking cheeks. The crowd wisely avoided the Pokémon's wrath and swiftly turned back to their game (all the while snickering in silence).

May's mind was running frantically in all directions. _Oh, crap! I—I gotta get outta here!_ Her legs began acting on their own accord and dashed out of the lobby and to the women's bathroom about thirty feet away.

Taken aback at the girl's sudden exit, Ash chased after her. "M-May!" But alas, the girl was too fast and ended up getting inside before he did. He glared at the door in his way and slowly turned back to Kad, who was crossing his arms and observing Ash's behavior intently.

"Why'd you have to do that for?" Ash asked as Pikachu climbed back on to his shoulder.

"Because," he replied with a satisfied smile, "I'm a gamer. I like pushing people's buttons."

"But did you really have to push hers? I hate having to see her like this…"

"Oh, so you _do_ like her?" Kad said, his grin widening by the second.

Ash's skin became slightly tinted. "What? What makes you say that?"

"Call it a hunch."

The Trainer hesitated for a few seconds, shifting himself uneasily and staring at the ceiling, floor, and walls—anything that wasn't Kad's face. Sure, he often encountered events where he thought that he might've liked her, but those feelings were confusing for him. He had no idea how to categorize them or to give them a face to recognize them by, so nine times out of ten, he just dismissed them and long since forgot them. "I…I don't know…"

Kad was about to open his mouth to respond when Stan came from behind and smacked his back, violently startling him. The bird on perching on his shoulder, Zorro, cackled in amusement and nearly toppled off.

"Gee, Matthew," he began, "that was a bit mean, wasn't it? Humiliating a couple like that?"

"And who are you to come to me about being _nice_?" the Trainer snapped back. "And my name's _Kad_! Get it right, will ya!?"

Stan simply ignored him and turned to Ash, who was still mulling over his situation. "Hey," he interrupted, offering a large hand. "Name's Stan. Know me as the best around these parts, and you'll find your place here just fine."

Ash stared in the large teen's eyes unflinchingly and returned the handshake, not muttering a syllable.

"Meowth got your tongue, kid?" he asked with a smirk, but still, Ash refused to say anything. Looking over to the bathroom and back to the shorter teen, he rubbed his chin and continued chewing the fat. "You know, your girlfriend there's quite the catch…"

"She's not my girlfriend," Ash finally replied, however bluntly. "We're just old friends traveling together."

"Hmm…" His face contorted while he thought of all kinds of possible ways to carry the matter forward—one particular look, in fact, made Ash feel uncomfortable. "Well, since she's clearly not taken…" Chuckling to himself, he walked to the side toward the women's bathroom, rubbing his hands like a greedy mastermind.

Before he could get there, however, Ash held out an arm and prevented his passage. "Don't you dare go near her," he warned, glaring into the teen's eyes. Pikachu compounded the warning with more caveat sparks.

Zorro returned the warning with a growl in the mouse's direction, and Stan laughed at the younger Trainer's boldness. "Ha! Are you challenging me?"

"Maybe I am," Ash spat back. "If you ever touch May, I'm going to see to it that you rue."

"Heh. And yet you say you two aren't together…" He looked at the Pokémon on the other's shoulder and enjoyed the appeal of the situation even more. "Fine, then. But how's about you and I seal the deal? Tomorrow, right here. You and your girlfriend versus me and my friend Mark in a Team Battle fest on that there game." A few others began to collect behind him and simply glared at their new adversary. He turned to them and asked, "Whaddaya say, guys? Sound like a show?"

As if it were practiced many times before, the group behind him nodded and grunted, "Yes!" in almost perfect unison.

"And what exactly will that prove?" Ash inquired. "Can't we just do it the old-fashioned way and settle this with a Pokémon battle?"

"Pika!" the yellow Pokémon agreed with a growl, obviously looking forward to singe that look off his face.

"Well, what exactly will a Pokémon battle prove? In the end, it's not that different. Besides…" He turned to the rest once again and, with multiple wags of his finger, counted them up. "It's twelve against…what? Three, including the shrimp there?"

"Shut up, Stan!" Kad bellowed, making a loud, somewhat painful stomp with his foot.

"Heh, whatever…" With that, he turned to the door and walked off, his camaraderie loyally following suit. "Be a man and just show up on Wednesday. I'll show you right." With a smack, the door closed behind the last guy exiting, leaving only Ash, Kad, and those who were busy gaming.

"Don't worry, Stan," Ash said quietly. "I'll be there. And I'll show you and Gary both."

May had been hiding in the bathroom for at least an hour now. And still, she had no intention of coming back out anytime soon, even though the bathroom did have that unclean scent that usually completely drove her away from public restrooms.

The floor tiles were colored with either age or…well, she didn't want to think of any alternative. Small drops of dried soap clung to the bottom edges of the three mirrors along the wall opposite of the toilet booths, and one of the faucets conducted a small orchestra of drips and drops that soon got on her nerves. She tightened the handles as much as she could to silence it, but it just wouldn't stop. Within a few minutes, she gave in and sat in front of the door, arms wrapped around her legs tightly.

"That stupid kid…" she fumed through clenched teeth. "Why would he yell to the world that I…?" She caught herself in mid-sentence, trying her best to avoid officially confirming her feelings to herself.

"No…" In desperate hopes of shutting off her free mind, she pressed her eyes with the palms of her hands. "No, it can't come to this… I can't be—"

"May?" she heard a voice call, as well as a hollow door knock. The voice was soothing and filled to the brim with concern. It was neither too forceful nor too soft, and upon hearing it, her heart felt like running a marathon. "Are you all right?"

"I… I don't know…"

"You wanna talk about it?"

"What's there to talk about?" she asked cynically. "You saw what happened."

"Well, I figured that talking about it would make you feel better."

"You think that talking to me about that kid announcing to the world about…well, you know…would make me _feel_ better?"

"Uh…yeah," Ash simply replied, nervously scratching his head. "Look, May, I don't like seeing you like this. I'd rather see you with a smile on your face than staring at a door with a badly-drawn woman nailed to it until you come out."

After a few seconds, his words must've gotten to her: he heard the sound of clothing rustling against wood, and slowly, the door cracked open. The girl nervously eyed the rest of the Center for any wandering eyes and sulked out and let the door close behind her, her head hunched down like a soldier with low morale.

Swiftly, he grabbed her shoulder and turned her around. "C'mon, May. Cheer up! Smile! Like this!" he said with as much of a genuine grin as he could create without making it an obvious fabrication. Moreover, he pinched the corners of the Coordinator's mouth and pulled them outward into a large, goofy smirk. Apparently, he made her look a little too funny—he loosened his grip and doubled over in laughter, Pikachu having a little trouble finding his footing on the boy's shoulder.

May, having seen the joy in the Trainer's face, returned a few giggles of her own, which eventually evolved into the unique laughter that the latter knew and grew to love.

"Like that. See?" Ash said, wiping away a tear.

"Thanks, Ash," May replied softly, a real smile finding its home once again on her pretty face. "You're a pal."

"Anytime," Ash returned. "It's what I'm here for." He benignly patted her on the back and, with a spring in his step and a growl in his stomach, sauntered back to the table to finish the hour-old meal.

She looked around the lobby and found that Kad made his way back to the television and continued playing the game, surely counting the minutes until he'd finally get his revenge on the jerk who left earlier. The simple look on his face only confirmed that he had forgotten the shenanigans from earlier and was not burdened by the fault that she'd unconsciously given him.

Back at the table, Pikachu had been busy feasting on some of the uneaten items on May's plate, soon resulting in Ash half-heartedly scolding him for not asking first. The yellow Pokémon hung his ears in shame but failed to give it a second thought when the Trainer offered him a large biscuit, which he had accepted with a gaping mouth as soon as he laid his eyes on it.

May sighed as she looked once again at the kind, loving Trainer sitting back at the table. Then the swelling feelings from before had filled her stomach like a balloon. At first, she tried casting it aside with the simple diagnosis of ravenous hunger, but it was filled with too much adrenaline. _I guess it's official, isn't it?_ she mused with another sigh, now completely convinced. With slow steps, she walked over to the table and sat down, resuming her meal in preoccupied stillness. By now, there was only one thing on her mind, something that she considered both a gift and an object of dread: _I'm in love with him._

_

* * *

_

**And so ends Event II.**

**Yes, the "odd concept" I mentioned earlier...it is **_**Super Smash Bros. Brawl**_**. It is...strange, yes, but this was just too good of an opportunity to pass up. The game just gives me so much to work with, and I hope to implement as many of the **_**Pokémon**_** elements as I can and still keep the story interesting and not too long. *prays that no one goes into a mad rage***

**I guess since it's already obvious, I might as well say that **_**Pokémon**_**, **_**Super Smash Bros. Brawl, **_**the mentioned lyrics, et cetera are properties of Nintendo; Creatures; Game Freak, Inc.; HAL Laboratory, Inc.; Sora, Ltd.; Masahiro Sakurai; Satoshi Tajiri; and all the rest. Why I have to say this is beyond me...**

**Until next time, guys! Feel free to drop a line if you have a concern/question/joke/whatever! ^^**


	3. Another Chance

**Aww, man... About two and one-half months since the last event? Major apologies to those of you who were waiting for the story's continuation. It is finally done, however, so it's all good!**

**I hope it is, at least. I'm afraid that I may have made _huge_ mistakes for the characters and for the story itself. I pray that those beta reads were enough to make me avoid a train wreck, but until then, prepare for what will probably make or break the story... Eh, maybe I'm just being too pessimistic about it. So anyway! Enough of my useless rambling! Enjoy (as much as you can, hehe) the twenty-one-and-a-half-page installment of _Teching Cupid's Arrow_!**

**Oh, and before I forget, many, many, _many_ thanks to 1337_m4573r and timoteyo7 for helping me out with the beta.  
**

* * *

_Event III: Another Chance  
_

…_Revered by many—I, too, revere him…_

With a deep sigh of complete satisfaction, Ash threw his fork onto his now-clean porcelain dish. It was only twenty minutes since he cheered May up, and they both already had consumed the equivalent of two large meals…each. When they had arrived a while prior, the bulk of food on the buffet table looked pretty much untouched—as if it were just replenished—despite the large number of people there at the time. With Ash and May completely (albeit temporarily…) full, a few of the vats were emptied to about half or even a quarter of their original food volume, while a couple were dried out completely and had to be replaced.

An employee who apparently worked by the kitchens had come back to replace the two containers, mumbling to himself when he had replaced each one of them that very morning. He lazily grasped the light, plastic jugs; grunted as he lifted the second stock of mashed potatoes and noodles; and instantly became mystified when he saw no dirty dishes in the tub by the tacos. Looking to the side at the table where the two Trainers and the small, yellow Pokémon were sitting and lightly conversing. Surely, he thought to himself, those kids must've been hoarding this food under their clothes in some kind of bags somewhere…

He dismissed it as unlikely, however, and just continued to do his work without any audible fuss, now convinced, on the other hand, that he should study how in the world two teenagers would be able to eat all that food and not gain a single inch around their midsections. He figured those chemistry and biology classes offered a few years back would've come in handy, but…well, it would explain why he was stuck at a Pokémon Center changing food vats for a living.

May was now blissfully slurping on fresh applesauce, holding her bowl up to her mouth as if it were cereal and milk. She was surprised as to how thirsty she was, and while she could've easily taken a sip of her soda, the applesauce was just too good to pass up. Her bowl, about the volume of a quarter of a soccer ball, was emptied in only sixty seconds—and that's not to say that she didn't make a small mess of herself by the time she was done. She reached for a napkin to the side and wiped off any drips of it off her blouse and mouth.

Pikachu found May's eating quite amusing and chortled in delight before returning to his ketchup bottle. The Trainer chuckled a bit herself and ruffled his head playfully—but when she saw that Ash had been staring off into space to the side with a bit of a glare, she voiced concern.

"Oh, nothing. Just the tournament coming up, I suppose," he said with a rub of his eyes.

"I have noticed that you've been doing more training than you usually do lately. You must be pretty nervous," May replied before slurping a bit of her soda.

"You think so?"

She set down her glass, the floating ice cubes inside jingling musically. "Well, these past few nights, you haven't really…slept soundly." After pausing for a slight yet noticeable moment, she added with a giggle, "I often hear you issuing commands to your Pokémon in between snores."

Ash forced a small laugh himself. "Do I really?"

With a small smile, she slowly nodded. "You should probably take a bit of a break."

The male Trainer let out a sigh mixed in with a groan, flipping any grin on his face upside down. "I dunno… Sceptile's been having a little trouble with Frenzy Plant lately, and Charizard needs some work with landing hits accurately. It's gonna be a busy few weeks, I think."

"That's true, I suppose. But why don't you have a little bit of downtime? After all, your Pokémon are probably as tired as you are."

Ash knew he couldn't argue against this—it was the magic bullet that often shot his training plans down. They both knew, of course, that he was extraordinarily dedicated, and on rare occasions, there came a time when he'd be a notch too forceful or push his partners just a few minutes further than normal.

He could only nod in agreement, as if he were a marionette at the mercy of a puppeteer.

As the minutes passed, their conversation began to wane, and save for the bustling noise of the remaining Trainers in the lobby wrapping up what they had going and the rhythmic chacks of Joy's keyboard, the Center was pretty quiet. The noontime sun was creeping up on the city, and after every look of the clock, it seemed to have gotten brighter outside.

Summer was almost over, Ash remembered. As the energetic goings-on of the middle months passed by like a speeding car, the leaves sure as silver began to tint slightly to the ultimately beautiful twilit colors of red, orange, and yellow, as if the sky's radiant energy had tanned and roasted them to an eventual crisp. The air was still quite warm; but he knew very well that it wouldn't be long before the piping-hot air would turn into a harsh breeze that would bite your nose, fingers, and toes like a rabid dog.

May completely dismissed coming up with something to add to the conversation and stared through the large window on her left. The streets were now bustling with cars—it was likely to be the daily lunchtime hustle. Dotting the sidewalks was a fair number of pedestrians browsing the storefronts and picking out old trinkets and munching on their fast food. Small children tugged on their mothers impatiently, whining about what time it was or how much longer they had to wait before returning home.

A small square of white, wooden benches circled an area right outside the Pokémon Center's front entrance. In the center stood a fountain shaped like a Squirtle, which spouted streams of water the size of large archways and released a mist that sprouted a bright, colorful rainbow. It was white, pure, and clean, just like the Center itself. It was hard to tell from the cleanly-cut stone if it was either built within the last few years or excellently refurbished; given how nice the scenery was, however, the difference mattered very little.

Bright coins lied in the pool of water in a pile, and like it were just second-nature, a few passersby simply threw their loose change and moved on without giving any second thought. Others just stared at it and simply shook their heads, wondering why in the world tax money would be used on such useless constructions.

A few found the scenery simply beautiful, nevertheless. Two teenagers, a black-haired boy wearing a windbreaker and a short-haired blonde girl donning a light-blue jacket, approached one of the benches and took a seat within an inch of each other. As they sat, the boy wrapped his right arm around the girl's shoulders, as if to protect her from the giant Squirtle's powerful Hydro Pump attack. To the girl, an invisible force field had appeared, blocking any of the Pokémon's hostilities and vaporizing the stream into spray and splitting the sun into seven colors.

As the girl sighed in contentment, she pulled out a small black box from her jacket pocket. Light seemed to shine out of it as if it were magic, accentuating the fervor of the small silver chain necklace she raised out tenderly between her fingers. Carefully, she reached around the boy's neck and hers and connected both ends of the necklace around each other into a lasso. The pendant, large charms shaped like a crescent moon and stars, rested in between them and hung—a symbolic urban ritual of eternity.

As the hook was set into place, the boy's and girl's eyes locked, and both were pulled into a deep dream of dark, heavenly water and unification. The chain in between the two seemed to tighten on its own, and the two's faces drew closer and closer. Second by second, frame by frame, like in the movies, the imperceptible links between their eyes shortened until their lips had melded together like fragments—each discernable but never complete, otherwise.

May sighed dreamily as it all sunk in, leaving Ash to raise an eyebrow, though to her knowledge, it was nothing more than a mere clearing of the throat. However, as a large pound on the table left their dishes to vibrate loudly, May started and snapped her attention back to reality.

"Uh, yes? What do you want?" she asked timidly, her heart thumping from the sudden start.

"If you weren't taken, it would be you, toots," Kad's cool voice said to counteract the girl's heated air. Her eyes widened in shock and disgust and looked ready to charge into him, but she had no desire to recreate the scene from before and get into even more embarrassment, so she only growled and kept her hands to herself, however fidgety. "But since that's not the case, I won't press it." Those last words made her relax and let out a sigh.

"Is something wrong?" Ash asked a lot more calmly.

"Well…" he hushed, carefully looking around him as if he expected eavesdroppers hiding in the walls and the floor. "…I want to help you."

Awkward silence. May stopped averting the boy's gaze and put on a mask of curiosity, and Ash's stare remained blank as a board, both of them lost for words, save for a few that they just couldn't get to pass through their throats without choking.

"Pika?" the yellow mouse Pokémon asked in equal confusion, all the while breaking the silence that had Kad virtually frozen.

"That wasn't what I expected to hear…" he said as he unconfidently looked down to the white-tiled floor.

"What do you mean that you want to help us?" May asked with humid confusion puffing out of her breath.

"Stan the Jerk challenged both of you to a fest on _that_," he pointed to the television area, "and _he_," motioning toward Ash, "accepted it."

"You did _what_!?" she exploded, her cutting glare dissecting Ash's now-pale face. Luckily for them, there were not that many people around to hear her scream, but that didn't change the fact that there was still considerable gravity in the situation.

"Uh…" Ash looked to the ceiling to avoid the flesh wounds her eyes were making on him, but no matter where he looked, he couldn't escape the fury. Grimacing, he quietly added, "…Yeah…"

"And don't I have a say in this?"

Kad raised his hand. "In his defense, if Stan makes a decision, it's final. Regardless of whether the people he challenges say no."

"Ha! I don't see how he's gonna make me play that stupid game! What's he going to do?"

"Hey, you don't know Stan the way I do. Sure, he's a crappy Pokémon Trainer, but _boy_, does he have skills in a fight! He mastered two martial arts, for crying out loud! He could own you two blindfolded while eating a sandwich!"

"Surely, he wouldn't hit a girl, would he?" Ash asked in repulsion. "Isn't that kind of low for a guy to do? Not to mention illegal?"

"Hasn't stopped him before…" Kad shook his head sadly. "You should've seen what he did to his past two girlfriends… I tell you, it sucks if the jock is the son of the sheriff of Viridian City. He can get away with almost _anything_…"

"And all of this over a _game_?" May scoffed.

"Stan ain't the sharpest tool in the shed. Those gifted with huge brawn and no brains are baaaaad forces to be reckoned with."

"Aw, man…" Ash groaned, still trying to avoid May's blue eyes, which were sure to be scanning him furiously from head to toe by now. However, all she did was put her finger to her chin and reflect a bit.

"Still," she began, "by what you're saying, it seems that you, Ash, didn't object in any way to being challenged. What were you thinking?"

He couldn't answer her question right away, and even if he could, he wasn't ready to reveal his answer to them. Underneath the usually determined, powerful look of the Trainer was a feeling of uncertainty and, to him, pitiful weakness. For the sake of his fighting partners' spirit, he seldom expressed it and always pulled through even the toughest challenges. However, as with many other instances in the past, experiences with his rival's decaying attitude accelerated his life into quite a direction.

* * *

_Loud groans from the audience boomed out of the television's old speakers and summed up well the battle that had ensued. One could have described it as a compilation of flashes that would daze the heck out of you and leave you drooling on yourself for the rest of the day. Others would describe it more as a battle that had little chance to be won—that he would have to have been incredibly lucky to achieve victory, to even get a chance to fight tooth and nail for his survival._

_And others would describe it simply as complete, humiliating _ownage_._

_The poor yellow mouse never did get that divine chance, made evident from the three consecutive ring-outs before landing even a couple powerful hits on its opponent, who recovered with a pummeling spin reminiscent of a helicopter with little to no worry of falling to his doom._

_As the crowd applauded the landslide winner, Pikachu stood in the back of the winner's lineup in a quiet series of claps. Ash envied his character's superb sportsmanship—with a groan, he hid his face behind his thumb-tired hands in ultimate dishonor, leaving Gary to soak in all of the imaginary cheers and bow and kiss as if he were on stage after a great performance._

"_Well, that's strike eighteen, Ashy!" Gary gloated._

_After a defeat that mortifying, he couldn't put himself up to speaking up in a retort—his stomach wouldn't allow it. The frustration made him dizzy, and he had a little trouble supporting himself upward, swaying back and forth and threatening to bonk his head against the wooden flooring._

"_Man," Gary continued as he saw that his opponent was turning the other cheek, "you've really been stinking lately… I have to pinch my nose just to live with it!"_

_Ash glared to the side and carefully placed his controller down. "What's that supposed to mean?"_

_Grinning in closed eyes, he answered, "Oh, you know, that test we took yesterday on type advantages? _Everyone_ knows that Bug-types are weak against Flying-types."_

"_I was, uh, distracted," Ash said without any signs of defending confidence._

"_Oh, please!" Gary laughed. "I bet you'd try to catch a Pidgeotto with a Caterpie without thinking twice about it!"_

"_Well, I'm never making _that_ mistake again!" he snorted defiantly, his arms crossed across his chest in a tight squeeze. "Don't you worry about that!"_

"_Yes, well, the day our journeys finally start is coming up really fast. You better keep those, er, 'mistakes' to a minimum if you don't want to end up having your clock cleaned in the Indigo League."_

"_Hey, even _grown-ups_ make mistakes!"_

_Gary scoffed and snapped his head to the wall, the slightly faded wallpaper peeling off in a couple spots. "Mistakes as dimwitted as _that_? Ha, I can only imagine what trouble you'll get into on your first day as a Trainer…"_

_Ash stood up and faced the other boy, his face red from embarrassment and rage. "You know what, Gary? …What's gotten into you!? Just this past month, you've been acting different around me—bragging, insulting, ignoring…take your pick. It seemed that it was only this summer that you and I would hang out for hours and be inseparable! But now…school's back up, you've gotten really good with this game, everyone either loves you or puts you in regards as the best of the best, and…" He sighed. "…you just shove me aside, thinking that I'll never be as good as you? Just like that? I mean, this is just a _game_. You know…just for fun?"_

_Gary's tone changed from conceited to serious in only a couple heartbeats; it was amazing as to how quickly he had achieved significance. "You'll never become great in life if you live just for _fun_. It's hard work. When you get your first Pokémon, are you going to just take it out for a picnic? Stuff like this isn't about having fun—you play to win."_

"_And what does work have to do with replacing me with more _popular_ friends?"_

"_It's contagious, hanging around you. Whatever you do, I'm going to catch it like a cold, and can I become one of the best with…someone like you distracting me from my training? No; you'd just get in my way."_

_Ash just simply couldn't believe it. Gary was one of the few friends he ever had growing up…and now he was lost. As far as he was concerned, it was all because of that game. _Is that how he really thinks of me?_ he thought in incredulity, his mouth slightly ajar in shock. _A burden to be around? I never thought it would come to this…

_He couldn't take it. He could almost feel his back spurting proverbial blood, leaving a mess all over his clothes and the floor. As warm water forced itself into his eyes, blurring his vision, he ran out of the room without so much of a concern as to whom he left behind him. His feet banged against the floor like a large drum, and his mother, who was busy making lunch, had taken notice of her boy opening the front door._

"_Honey? What's—" was all she said before the door slammed shut._

_Ash didn't bother grabbing his coat. It's not that it would matter; the cold air would do him some good—freeze up those tears and cool down that anger, his dad always said years ago. Evidently, the weekend shower that had ended hours before had started up again, and the potholes in the road began to refill into small ponds._

_As he braced himself for the cold weather, and the aftermath of the loss of his old friend, he could make out the call of the spiky-haired backstabber poking his head out the window and waving with that same conceited energy that he had earlier. "Smell ya later, Ash!"_

_

* * *

_

"Ash."

He jumped and returned to his original state of mind. The aqua-eyed girl sitting in front of him was waving her hand in front of his face and snapping her fingers.

"Huh? Oh…" Ash replied, slightly flustered. "Uh, what were you asking me, again?"

"I asked you why you didn't turn down the challenge outright instead of going through with it and likely getting beaten horribly."

"Well, whatever the reason," Kad spoke before Ash could apprehensively reply, "it would be best if you just stayed and took all of Stan's gloating instead of resisting and risking more than necessary. I mean, the worst that could come out of that would be a few losses. Better than broken bones, right?"

May stood up, nearly jumping three feet into the air. "_Or_ we could just get out of here before all this happens and just forget about it. It's not like he'd get out of his way to follow us."

"No." Ash was grimacing slightly, as if he were having a wound disinfected or were being electrocuted. Had May not known any better, she'd have thought that he would have begun crying in desperation. "I'm not running away from this."

Her mouth was slightly open in surprise. "Ash?"

Ash couldn't continue. His throat was sore, and his head was starting to hurt. May was tempted to try to comfort the apparently distraught Trainer, but remembering Kad's merciless behavior from before, she constrained herself.

"I guess that's your answer, babe," Kad said. "He clearly doesn't want to back down from this. A commemorative attitude, if you want my input on it."

"Well, I don't," May snapped, to which Kad just chuckled. With this, her knees weakened, and she sat back down into her cushioned booth seat. "But if this is what he wants to do…then I'm going to back him up."

Now it was Kad's turn to be shocked. "What? Just like that? First, you say that that game is stupid, and now you take it back and accept Stan's challenge, too?"

"Pretty much," May smiled slyly.

Kad smiled in approval and turned away from the table, softly saying, "Wow, you _are_ in love." With loud slaps against the floor tiles, he ushered back to the television and, expecting to be joined shortly, waved them over with his eyes still on the slightly darkened, but still active, screen.

May semi-reluctantly got up and started following him, but Ash's voice stopped her in her tracks. "May?"

She stood rooted in place, afraid to look back at him. She chose her time to speak and her tone carefully, and with an inaudible gulp, she whispered, "Yes…Ash?" She heard the groaning of the cushion finally getting room to breathe and footsteps homing in on her. Before she knew it, Ash's arms were around her waist in a soft hug, his firm torso effectively protecting her back like a comforter.

"Thank you," he said sincerely. "I really appreciate your help."

May could feel the familiar heat of her face radiating into the room like a lamp, and she could also feel the impending doom of her cover if she were to show it to him outright. "Uh…you're welcome," she replied with the unfortunate impediment of jittery nerves and an almost-sour stomach. Her heart sank to the floor when he spun her around curiously, and upon seeing her tinted face once again, he spoke up.

"Uh, May…"

"Oh, uh…" She thought desperately, but only one solution had surfaced efficiently enough: giving the longest, hugest string of coughs that she had ever made herself do. She made them as convincing as she could: she was hunched forward with her hands over her mouth and realistically—at least to her—had made the disgusting sounds of coughing up mucus. It was ten seconds after she began, however, when her throat seriously began to hurt from it all. "Sorry, _cough_, Ash!" She beat her chest lightly and gave one more small cough. "There. Must've been choking on something."

He smiled with relief. "Well, as long as you're okay."

As he faced the television and followed Kad, who had been setting up the controllers and patiently waiting for him and May to join him, the latter wiped off an imaginary pool of sweat hanging from her forehead, smiling all the more reticently. _Yes!_ she cheered like a ghost._ He fell for it! I can live to see another day!_ She then followed Ash and a shoulder-perching Pikachu, savoring her respite as much as she could, and braced herself for whatever this strange game had coming her way.

By the time Ash and May had joined Kad on the couch, the screen had already changed to a display of an irregularly shaped matrix of picture thumbnails on the right side and a photo of the highlighted stage on the left, the stage's name printed just below the latter in all caps.

"Okay, then… Hot ladies first," Kad said, handing May a purple controller, which she swiped with wordless malice and slammed her body on the couch. Ash blindly picked up the controller next to it, and with the light push of a button on Kad's, the screen instantly grew dark, lit only by the fiery words "READY TO FIGHT!" and the weak, white glare from the windows in the back of the Center.

A few seconds passed, and then the screen zipped to a stage—ancient and ruinous, decorated here and there with lichens and mosses and vines—overlooking a rocky canyon in the middle of a vast land blanketed with a purple sky outlined with gold along the stretching horizon. A large sundial poked out of the ground, and from it, a triangular shadow pointed to the stage's right, a signal of morning. Three fighters made their debut in a flashy fashion: (by a strange streak of luck) two Poké Balls snapping open in a radiant lightshow, revealing the powerful dragon-like Pokémon Charizard and the tough Grass- and Poison-type Ivysaur, and also introducing a green-clad warrior materializing from a small whirlwind.

Large numbers flashed on the screen as the narrator's familiar, booming voice began counting down, and as he yelled, "_GO!_" the screen zoomed out to show the fighters in their battle stances, staring each other down and waiting for their masters for their first commands.

"Okay," Kad began, "starting off, use X or Y to jump, L or R to use your shield, the C-Stick to use quick smashes, A for standard attacks, B for specials, and yada yada. Just experiment with the controls a bit before we continue." As soon as he uttered his last syllable, the controllers from the other two players chattered with the tapping of the analog control levers, and both Pokémon on the screen were soon doing odd dances of running back and forth and jumping and flapping wings and just randomly attacking each other, without any tact or planning.

Kad positioned his character at the top platform of the three already in triangle formation, totally out of the way of the riot of spammed smashes and the occasional streams of Razor Leaves and Flamethrowers. Little by little, their characters' damage meters at the bottom of the screen increased and increased (growing redder and redder in tandem), and from each strong blow, they flew farther and farther back.

A minute passed, though, before May grew impatient. "What exactly is the point here? Nothing is happening."

"Of course… I didn't explain the rules yet. The point of the game is to blast your opponent off the screen and deplete all of their lives and to be the last one standing. What you want to do is to build up your opponent's damage, usually to around 100%, and hit them with a smash attack. The higher your damage percentage, the farther back you fly when you're hit. Like that, see?" He finished just as Ivysaur bashed his head against the Fire- and Flying-type and brought his damage up to 89%. Just as was mentioned, Charizard blasted back a good ways right off the edge and started tumbling under the mercy of the game's gravity.

May panicked and began mashing buttons to get her character back on the stage. "No, Charizard! Jump! _Jump!_" It was too late, unfortunately; Charizard was already under the stage and, after a couple of seconds, completely off the screen, exploding in a large, red pillar of fire. Charizard's damage rating disintegrated and was reset to 0%, a red dot on the gauge flicked itself off like a bug (only three remained), and the magical platform from before materialized above the top platform.

"Go, Squirtle!" the red-clothed Trainer below cried as another flash of light shined from the platform, and a small blue turtle had appeared proudly, fiercely, and with a thirst for vengeance.

"Aw, Charizard…" May groaned. "Why couldn't you jump back?"

"Charizard already used his three midair jumps," Kad answered expertly. "After that, he would have to use Fly to grab the ledge, but he couldn't because he was below the stage anyway. Just press up on the Control Stick and press B to use his fourth recovery move—remember that that is the same for nearly every character on here."

She growled in mild frustration. "I even had the type advantage, too…" she whimpered.

"You think too much like a Trainer," Kad chuckled. "There aren't any type advantages in this game. Remember, the strategy in here is _mind games_. Trick your opponent into thinking that you're trying to retreat when you're really trying to move him over to the edge to get an easier KO on him. Jump around so he has to think more carefully as to where to aim his hits or if he needs to use his shield. Things like that."

* * *

"_Player One! Defeated!_" the announcer boomed as May made her fourth and final plunge off screen, this time from a commanding puff of spores blasted upward from Ash's Ivysaur. May sadly hung her head down in shame as her Charizard blasted off (again), made its distant descent over the horizon, and disappeared in the faint twinkling of a star, obviously reminding her much of the countless times they blasted off the Team Rocket trio, Jesse, James, and Meowth.

"Aww… Well, I _almost_ had you, Ash!" she grinned to her side and giggled, to which Ash just shrugged modestly. Her testimony was a bit of an overstatement, however; Ash, finishing it up with his Ivysaur, stunned her Charizard with a three-second Bullet Seed barrage. While she was lagging from a forward smash (which his blue energy shield blocked beautifully with a _zap!_), Ash countered it with a huge spore blast, and May was unlucky enough to have been launched at only 102%.

Ash was the victor of the skirmish with 123% damage and with two lives remaining.

"Mmm, not bad," Kad replied briskly with invisibly crossed arms. "But now, Ash…" With a downward flick of his analog stick, Link fell through the top platform and landed onto the main stage like a feline, his proverbial tail raised threateningly. "…this means you have to face _me_."

Ash barely had any time to react, for right after Kad had declared battle, Link was lunging toward him into a short hop, and a boot-clad foot was stretched into a jump kick. Charizard's resulting flight backwards was, evidently, amusing to the audience, but the launch wasn't far enough to completely destroy his chance for recovery.

Ash's skills in recovery were certainly improving, but as Charizard spiraled into the air for his final midair jump, he couldn't do anything else, which resulted in a pitiful descent back down to the stage. His heart sank when he saw Link leaping into the air once again and slashing his magical sword in swift, horizontal arcs. The first slash missed, but the lizard fell right into the second one and took the full blunt of the force. Loud cheers and screams slammed into his ears right after; the blue pillar of fire on the left side of the screen forced him to growl under his breath.

"Just a little more, Squirtle!" the Pokémon Trainer bellowed near the stone sundial. A small red and white Poké Ball burst open in another brilliant display of bluish light. A pint-sized turtle popped out of the radiance, raring to go with 0% damage and bursting stamina.

With a burst of energy, Kad's Link dashed from the right floating platform toward the turtle on the left, while the latter passed through and reached the main stage—both ended up landing in front of each other. Link went for three powerful upward slashes, but Ash blocked them with another perfectly put-up shield, allowing him to jump away farther left. Link gave chase with two aerial slashes, the second as beautifully executed as the first; a midair jump, however, allowed the turtle to escape unmarred and to land safely back onto the stage.

The warrior returned to where Squirtle had retreated, but by that time, two pillars of water were already unleashed, which effortlessly launched Link into the air a bit and dealt 13%. He countered with two backward aerial kicks; physics appeared to favor Squirtle a little more and allowed him a chance to retaliate with a drill-like attack with his tail.

A wide arc from Link's sword caught Squirtle head-on and pushed him back a bit, followed up with another backwards aerial kick. Ash tensed, unsure how exactly to counter Kad's strange attack strategy; his opponent was moving very irregularly, and that in itself forced his own movement to be predictable. He was taking too much time reading his opponent to look out for himself, and that left him open.

A _bloop_ sounded, and a small black bomb was now in Link's hand. Ash quickly reached for the shield trigger on his controller, but the bomb was thrown right above him, and the poor thing was left wasted on the floor in a plume of fire and black smoke. Both fighters were now on the left platform, putting up their respective shield in a battle of wits—with Kad winning by leaving an impatient Ash to release a spinning attack forward, which Kad had evaded nicely with a roll to the right. An upward slash juggled the turtle upward, and as gravity pulled him down, he was at the mercy of a second slash.

Squirtle was now at 49% damage…and another aerial kick brought it up ten percent. _It's okay, Squirtle!_ Ash called out to his Pokémon in his mind as if he were in an actual battle. _Don't give up!_ In his mind, Squirtle replied with a nod and continued giving his all; unfortunately, Link was below, waiting to unleash a spinning attack that sent him flying again, his sword outlined with magical fire that breathed from its blade.

Ash's damage meter grew less and less friendly as the battle continued, and while he recovered nicely, dealing a bit of damage from a Waterfall attack, the 72% on his gauge was beginning to pick fear at his mind. It wasn't long before he began to slip up, and now a red 127% was blaring at him.

A few more seconds of battling did him a little good, but the meter continued to distract him, and regrettably, he jumped right into Link's upward aerial stab. Squirtle cried out in panic as he tumbled into the distance, the "141%" bursting like a balloon. Link, on the other hand, stood triumphant on the top platform and twirled his sword into its sheath, his labors completed.

"_GAME!_" the narrator boomed as the same word, colored green, flashed on the screen, and the battle had come to an end… The screen, proud of another well-earned victory, warped to the same twilit world, where May's and Ash's battlers (and each respective shamed Trainer, to boot) were standing and watching the Hylian hero swinging his sword twice before spinning it back into its sheath. An epic victory theme comprised of horns and kettle drums was playing as the narrator proudly proclaimed, "_The winner is…Link!_"

With a small breath, Kad leaned back and placed his controller in his lap. His hands, which donned long fingers tempered with precision and grace, rested on his head and emphasized his air of superiority. "Well, that's how it goes," he said. "You think you guys are beginning to get it now?"

"More or less," Ash replied. "I think I'd like to try someone new, though; it's kind of hard to get used to three characters in one."

"In that case…" Kad reached for the START button on his controller, and he prompted the other two to do the same. Soon, the menu music bounced off the white Center walls, and they were taken back to the character select screen once more. "…there's a wide range of characters left to choose from. Whatever floats your boat is fine with me."

Ash grabbed his blue token from the "Random" slot in the roster and began scanning for his next choice. Rows upon rows of characters were just staring at him, waiting to be picked. "Ice Climbers…" he read as he looked. "…Kirby…Fox…Pikachu…Marth…Ike…" However, it wasn't long before his eyes caught sight of a blue character right beside the young boy Ness.

He hovered over its slot and pressed A, and with a flash, the character appeared on the second player's profile at the bottom: "_Lucario!_" Shock appeared on his face when he saw the Aura Pokémon's jackal-like demeanor. Memories of his past endeavors came rushing back to him in an eye blink, and in his heart, a small ping of grief reawakened.

He remembered the sacrifice, years ago, Lucario made to save the Tree of Beginning, how he pushed Ash aside so that it needn't be that both surrender their lives to save the tree, a valiant fate in harmony with that of the Pokémon's best friend, Sir Aaron. Now, as both the former and the latter had passed on into the afterlife, Ash had only memories.

He glared at his gloved hand for a spell and balled it into a fist when he felt the once-magnified power course through it. _I have a similar Aura, huh?_ He wished as much as anyone else that Lucario hadn't perished, but hope was still alive in him when he remembered what he told himself soon after the Pokémon's fate: _No, Lucario isn't really gone… Its Aura is with me!_

"And its Aura is still with me," he said aloud with a smile, his grief now diminished. This sudden outburst garnered a strange look from Kad, but fortunately, May understood what he was talking about. It seemed as though she was busy swimming through the memories of the past herself.

"Well, anyway, you choose Lucario, eh? Good choice." Kad selected a few options and turned some setting to high; Ash didn't have a lot of time to look and see what it was, exactly. "Excellent priority and combo potential," he continued as the game was loading another stage, "and his power increases as he takes more and more damage."

More applause. As the next stage popped up, the three players found themselves riding on a propeller-driven shelf of some kind, floating a few hundred feet in the sky over a shallow, yet vast, bay. A small town lied below them in a near-stare, eyeing the flying device with open doors and confused pedestrians while knowing that it could do nothing to hide from it.

Two pass-through platforms hovered over the main stage, which was as almost as thin as paper; a rectangular slab was sandwiched between the top one and the main stage, and the top shielded the bottom two like an umbrella.

The narrator began booming the countdown, and the three fighters appeared on the screen in their flashy ways afresh: a Poké Ball burst open, and out popped the pink Balloon Pokémon Jigglypuff; a darkish-red Lucario just appeared out of thin air and flexed his muscles; a green pipe strangely dug its way out of the main platform on the right (May couldn't help but chuckle at the questionable physics), followed by a somewhat-tall Italian man dressed in blue; and a red-garbed Marth made his proud debut as a beam of yellowish-orange light burst at the stage's lower left.

"Another guy with a sword…?" Ash groaned, still slightly sore from the last match.

"Why not?" she defended. "The way I see it, this guy is a knight in shining armor, fighting inside a castle tower for his princess, held captive by the evil king of Pokélantis! How romantic!" Hearts seemed to burst from her wide eyes as she cooed, Kad's response being a loud facepalm. May shot him a glare and demanded, "What!?"

"Not only is that _completely wrong_," he said almost painfully, "but it's also…oh, I can't explain it. Leave it to a girl to choose a character based on appearance and cliché, lovey-dovey stories like that…"

Ash found her justification to be just as painful, but for a different matter; when he heard the word _Pokélantis_, darkness in his mind swelled and pressed against his eyes. It was almost blinding to remember the day he had been completely taken over by the king's spirit. The darkness never completely left his mind, but it lived only as a memory and nothing more. To lose complete control over his body, though, was an experience that he hoped he would never have to relive.

"Now," Kad began, the Jigglypuff ducking up and down like a blob of pink dough, "the conditions to Stan's challenge are that the battles are to be team matches, and since he likes items, we will be practicing with items, too."

The blue Luigi spared no time to make his moves, the first namely being a rocket-launched headbutt straight ahead of him and aiming at the red Marth. The swordsman's player sprung up to avoid the attack and to retaliate with an attack of her own. Lucario sped over to Marth's area and began to unleash Aura-filled punches, each one going right through the target as if it were made of smoke.

"Ash, what are you doing?" Kad asked, bemused. "She's on your team!"

"…She is?" he slowly asked for a response.

"She _is_ the same color as you."

Ash slapped himself in the forehead with an invisible hand and grunted, "Oh… Sorry, May."

May, however, was too busy approaching a small blob of goo to notice; unfortunately, that meant that she hadn't been paying too much attention to Kad's warning, and upon natural impulse, she tossed it at the person right in front of her. The smack of the adhesive passed their ears and brought them on their toes—before long, Ash _did_ wonder why Lucario's arm was flashing every second…

"Oh, no… Ash, you're hosed," moaned Kad.

"Why? What's happen—_what the heck!?_" Lucario was launched up into the air as a cloud of fire erupted from his torso, and on the way down, he hit the screen and had his damage meter reset to 0%.

"Gooey Bomb," Kad said behind clenched eyes. "You have to play Hot Potato with the darn thing by overlapping someone else before it explodes. But don't worry; I set it up so there is an infinite number of stock. We play 'til we take a break."

"Ah, good…" After he shed off the burden of blowing up, expressing his relief with a sigh, he switched his attention to another item: "Hey, isn't that a Poké Ball?" he asked, picking it up.

"Yes, it is. Just toss it to release the Pokémon inside."

So he did, and the ball landed right in front of the descending Jigglypuff, missing it only by a foot or so. Upon landing, out popped a blue, balloon-shaped Pokémon with squinted eyes, a grimace, and a "scared" black tail. "Wobbuffet!" it cried with the voice that Ash and May were all too familiar with.

Both of them groaned and closed their eyes in annoyance. "Just when I thought we didn't have to worry about Team Rocket bothering us…" May complained in a near-whisper.

Kad made a face. "Team Rocket? What about 'em?"

"Long story," both said bluntly and in unison.

However, by this point, May was, in particular, driven mad by how many times they had seen Team Rocket trying to capture Ash's Pikachu lately (who was still sitting on Ash's shoulder, taking the sight of Wobbuffet just as badly as the others); and she could almost smell the sweet scent of revenge taunting her nostrils. She gave a low, evil laugh and approached the blue Pokémon with fire in her eyes.

Like the cocking of a gun, Marth lifted his sword and began flashing yellow, power building up in his blade. "Okay, you darn punching bag, take _this_!" May roared, releasing the attack button. With a grunt, the prince brought his sword right down on Wobbuffet's large head. On impact, the Pokémon's body bounced from side to side and knocked any fighter in its way backwards—which meant that May's Marth was knocked away a fair distance.

"Wait, what the…?" May, slightly miffed that her revenge was somewhat bitter, gave Kad a stupid look.

"What? That's what Wobbuffet does when it's attacked. Friend or foe, whoever gets in the way of its bouncing is knocked back."

"Well, _that_ stinks…" she pouted. Kad only laughed, to which the girl growled, and continued tactical planning of his attacks.

After about thirty seconds or so, the stage began to descend from the sky and fade; by and by, the three players found (and the computer-controlled Luigi) landed softly on a sand-caked island complete with a palm tree and a pipe similar to the Italian fighter's. In the background, one could make out about two-thirds of a large mountain-like area and a thin streak of green between sea level and its timberline.

Kad's Jigglypuff had picked up a pink-and-white capsule at around the crest of the island's sand and tossed it at Ash's Lucario. Out popped a small piece of paper that none of the fighters expressed any care for, especially since the others were too busy paying attention to a bluish sphere growing from in between Lucario's palms.

"What's happening?" Ash asked with a ping of nervousness in his voice. After all, for all he knew, it would grow out of control and explode in his face…

"That's Aura Sphere. Like his other attacks, it gains a damage boost and grows in size as Lucario takes more and more damage. …Ah, look out!"

A small gasp from the audience and a white flash on the screen brought everyone's attention to another crossed, rainbow-colored ball, which began its strange, random path above their heads. Luigi jumped after it and started beating on it right away, but Ash and May were unsure about what to do.

"What are you waiting for? Break it open!"

"What? Like this?" Ash asked as he aimed an upward burst of Aura at the ball (now only a foot above him). The ball shattered like glass, and island's lighting darkened drastically, as if the moon had totally eclipsed the sun. The familiar rainbow-colored glow enveloped the Pokémon's body, and glowing yellow eyes stabbed fear into May and, very subtly, Kad. Luigi, however, didn't seem to care.

Ash wasn't sure how he did it or what controlled his hands to make it work, but only a second later, the screen panned into Lucario's glowing body. "_Watch the power of Aura!_" he cried as he leaped into the air like a ninja. He reappeared at the top center of the screen like a bird perched on nothing or like a puppet hanged by invisible strings. Light built up around his sky-raised hands, and with a loud roar, a colossal beam of blue energy cut itself right down the center of the island.

And Luigi was unfortunate enough to be caught in the damaging Aura blast. For each split second that passed, Luigi's damage bumped up about 10%, and after about the five seconds of the blast's life, his damage meter was at 92%. With the beam's dissipation, the Italian was sent skyward. The destination: somewhere on that giant mountain.

"Seriously, that CPU was just _standing_ there…" Kad laughed as he shook his head in scorn. He meant to turn his head over to Ash about controlling that beam of Aura when he noticed May's shocked, speechless expression pasted on her face like a burn. "Hello?" he asked, snapping his fingers in front of her face. "Cutie, you home?"

It seemed the _c_ word snapped her out of it, but she still hadn't forgotten the loop she had been thrown into from that powerful trump. "Yes," she said through clenched teeth. "I am home." She turned away with a look of frustration replacing the look of shock and refocused her attention to the Luigi that had just returned from the revitalization platform.

* * *

About fifteen-plus minutes had passed. Kad certainly noticed some improvement on the two newcomers' parts: Ash was no longer attempting to team kill, and May was beginning to get know her way around the rest of the items that had appeared. However, she had to learn their mechanics the hard way…

At around five minutes into the match, shortly after clamping her ears shut and panicking from seeing Sing as one of Jigglypuff's moves ("Give me a break!" she justified herself when Kad gave her strange looks. "It took me _hours_ to get that marker ink off of my face last time!"), she found a plate of hot curry lying around on the ground. As her Marth ate it, balls of flame burst from his mouth like a Charizard's Flamethrower. "Whoa," she said to herself when she noticed the fire-based attack effects on the other players. Like any new player would, she took advantage and exploited the attack. Even Kad was having a hard time dealing with her.

Unfortunately, a large yellow box with a fire symbol emblazoned on it had popped up right in front of her when she was chasing Kad's Jigglypuff, and, well…needless to say, nothing good can _ever_ come out of that, can it?

There was also the time when she thought a blue, atom-shaped item was an attack item, so she threw that at an invincible Luigi, who, while not only having a lower damage level than before, returned the inadvertent good deed with a spinning kick. She was unlucky enough to be in the blast radius of an Electrode that had appeared about five seconds earlier.

"The items clearly don't like you, softbottom," Kad said with a laugh.

May's face grew a deep shade of crimson; her head felt like it was going to rupture like that Electrode. All these names, and he wasn't even provoked! She was just plainly getting sick of it. "Okay, _that's it!_ You know what, _Matthew_!?" A yellow Party Ball magically appeared a few feet away.

"You!" Her Marth gave chase to it and chucked it at him, which he dodged effortlessly with his shield.

"Can!" A small, black Bob-omb popped out from thin air right above her; she threw that at him with all her character's might, too.

"_Go!_" She took the banana peel in the prince's hand and also threw that, although it accidentally hit Ash's Lucario.

"_To!_" A Poké Ball that had popped out of the ground made its way, almost telekinetically, into Marth's hands. She tossed that at the Balloon Pokémon and let it pop open.

"_HELL!_"

As the audience gasped at the Pokémon that had come out, May went back into a near-shock state—for her, though, the name was all that she needed to hear: "Jirachi!" the star-shaped Pokémon cried. It floated into the air for a couple seconds before lifting itself to the stars above. On the way, around ten to fifteen sheets of paper were dropped, which Kad floated over and snatched as if they were notes of money. He took pains to gratefully thank her for the "stickers."

All she was paying attention to, however, was a memory…of those nights many years ago, when the Millennium Comet had come close to Earth. She instantly remembered the wish-granting talisman she had gotten. She remembered one of the nights where she folded one of its seven tabs and saw Ash skipping rocks by the river. Her past self nearly gasped in the realization of her feelings, and from that day on, she knew innately of their intertwined destinies.

Time forced this knowledge to warp, however, and doubt blossomed in its place. And since she had forgotten to fold the seventh and final tab, forfeiting her wish, her doubt grew into fear. She once accepted that it didn't matter that she had lost the opportunity to make her wish, possibly from deep hunches inside of her that the wish would come true regardless, but now that her feelings crested back, she wished for a stronger safeguard for the future.

May snapped back from the past when a pillar of red fire burst from the bottom of the screen and when Kad exploded into laughter. "You just stood in one spot and didn't bother jumping back onto the stage when it lifted itself up again! C'mon, girl! You need to keep your head out of dreamland and focus on the game!"

_That is _it,_ Kad. You are _so_ asking for it…_ May ran through her head more times than she could count.

Ash, while not exactly approving of the other two's personal attacks on each other, still smiled at her desperate attempts at scanning the stage for more items to throw. "This is going to be a long competition…" he muttered while narrowly dodging Luigi's deadly uppercut attack. Pikachu just shrugged lazily and continued watching.

* * *

A few more minutes into the match still, more and more improvement was showing from Kad's "students." Ash and May both were much more easily aiming their attacks on moving targets and were becoming a lot more proficient in dodging them—May, in particular, was getting really good with tossing items now, Kad noticed…

There was a small fanfare, and with a burst of confetti, a lone Poké Ball fell out and clanked metallically on the stone ground. Luigi and Lucario dashed for the ball, practically wrestling for it in mid-run and knocking each other into the air. In the end, though, it was Lucario who ended up getting a hold of it, and when the time came when he had a clear shot, he tossed it at the plumber.

If by some divine gift or a twisted streak of luck, the audience gasped again…and Ash and May also did when they recognized what had been summoned—the small, blue body; the cute painted face; the underdeveloped appendages; the two blue antennae; the red jewel on its chest. The detail was right down to the last color, the last shape, and the last size.

Of all Pokémon to appear, it had to be _Manaphy_.

The hearts of both lad and lass had melted, and the memories of Samiya were reawakened with the exact same intensity of the day the Temple of the Sea was saved. The effect, on the other hand, was much heavier on Ash. His hand froze to his controller—not a muscle could move, and not a nerve could _feel_. He was reliving the moments of his past once again, the moments of where his life and the lives of those he loved were all in jeopardy.

Of course he wanted to stop the Phantom's plans and save Samiya; his heart wouldn't have it any other way. And his efforts had allowed much preservation that day, yes, but now that he remembered—now that he really, truly remembered—his exact feelings that day, he realized that the bulk of his doing wasn't for Manaphy. It wasn't all for Samiya or even for his own survival.

It was for _her_.

A fabled sound pulsated throughout his body, and he absorbed every second of it—_thump, thump._ He had Pikachu, Manaphy, and May take refuge inside that pod. He was well aware of the risks of his turning back…the steep, steep risks. The risk of failing. The risk of losing it all. The risk of perishing.

_Thump, thump._

He and May went swimming with Manaphy, too, he remembered. The Luvdisc found that a worthy moment; surely, it must've been instinct of what both he and she were thinking as they glanced at each other amidst the beautiful underwater scenery, smiling. The feelings he had for her back then, the confusing feelings that he had witnessed many times before and couldn't put a name to them…they were the same.

_Thump, thump._

And now, here they were, playing a fighting game where their almost-child (for lack of a better term on his part, of course) had appeared and caused him shock. To think he was just preparing for the Great Tournament, too! He had enough to worry about already, and now, the warm feeling in his chest bubbled in his blood and spread throughout his body like a soothing poison.

He could no longer stay there; he had to go somewhere to think…

So he sprung up, dropped his controller onto the floor, and dashed out as quickly as he could out of the Center, leaving poor Pikachu to fall off his shoulder and sprawl onto the couch.

"Pikapi?" the mouse called after him, but the doors were already closed.

May got up and did the same thing, too, her voice carrying farther away. However, through the windows, Ash didn't seem to notice, or even care, for that matter. He just booked it.

Kad also got up and looked out the window at the teen running down the street and, eventually, out of sight. "Oh, boy…" he interjected nervously. "What's up with him?"

If only she had an answer.

* * *

He didn't bother stopping; the energy, both alien and invigorating, coursed too strongly through his body to warrant the use of his brakes. Besides, sometimes running helped him think things through, especially in situations like those where thinking on his feet just wouldn't work that well.

Images of May flashed before his eyes each step he took, each just as lovely as the last: the first day they met, the day Oscar and Andi had bugged the two about love, the day they got separated with the rest of the group in the forest…and there were many more days where that came from. The memories of her were nearly countless, and each compounded the feeling in his heart more and more until he thought that it would be crushed under its own weight.

The more he thought about it, the more he realized that he never really gave extensive thought to May as a person. He always enjoyed her company, sure, even when they were bugging the living Weedle out of them. He wouldn't have their friendship any other way, but unfortunately for him, it seemed that his desire for a new level of friendship had begun to present itself to him.

Before, many things about her went unnoticed in his eyes. Now that he gave the umpteenth look at her, plus one, there was an entire world of unexplored territory. It was like his inner eyes were clean and polished. Her hair looked all the warmer; her eyes, all the deeper and more mysterious and enticing. He sure as heck never thought much about her face, but the one final look at it changed his mind completely. It was the rose among the daisies—a unique bloom among falsely innocent flowers. There were too many good things about her to count! There was her warmth, her sweetness, her face, her—

_Okay, Ketchum, snap out of it now!_ he reprimanded himself before he went any farther with that list.

He slowed to a walk when he realized that he had already run a mile, and thus, he thought it best that he didn't go any farther. He took a glance behind, and sure enough, he caught no sight of the Pokémon Center…and no one chasing him. _Man, oh, man… Is this really happening?_

No answer came to him, obviously. Winded, he found a nearby tree and took a seat, putting his knees up to his chest and hiding his face in his hands. _What am I going to do?_ he thought through heaving breaths. _First, there was the tournament; second, there was Stan and his stupid challenge; and finally, there's this…feeling. I'm so confused!_

_Now Stan is probably going to wipe the floor with me come tomorrow, and Gary will…oh, Giratina, I just don't know what to do!_ That's when the tears started to flow. In seconds, his gloves were drenched with his feelings of confusion, fear, and that alien feeling…

The gravity was all kicking in now. It just wouldn't be long until Stan would come and rip his dignity to shreds. For years, Gary's ways had been picking at him and picking at him until he just couldn't think of it any longer, merely dismissing it as inevitable superiority over him. If Stan won, it would be like Gary winning another battle to ruin his pride. What would everyone think? What would Pikachu think? What would _she_ think?

And that feeling…what the heck is it? Is it really what Brock felt countless times when a girl would appear before his eyes and (quote-unquote) "capture his heart"? Or is it deeper still?

So he sat there and ran the same question in his mind over and over again like a broken record: _Is this really what they call _love_?_

…_Feared by many—I, too, fear him…_

_

* * *

_**Well...here it is. I just can't help but feel that I failed so epically to express the scenario and to keep everyone in-character...but hey, that's where the beta reads came in. Thanks again, guys!**

**So, now that all of that reading is out of the way, how was it? It definitely could've been better, I think; but hey, your input is greatly appreciated, as per usual!**


	4. When Vows Are Written

**Huh. An update to **_**Teching Cupid's Arrow**_** on the very same day that I try out **_**Brawl+**_** for the first time? How appropriate. :o**

**Well, this event took quite a long time, as you're well aware. But hey, it's **_**OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAAND!!!!11!1 **_**words in length (I did that joke already, didn't I...?), so the development time is understandable, I guess...**

**Now, enjoy Event IV!**

**

* * *

**

_Event IV: When Vows Are Written_

…_Now that person stands at my side…_

With the coo of a mechanical Pidgey, the clock in the back of the Pokémon Center struck nine—Ash had been gone for hours, and he had not made a bold return since. Pikachu was busy spying out the window for a glimpse of his beloved friend to reappear behind those downtrodden buildings hectares away, climbing down every now and then to check on a particularly worried May. She herself glanced back at the double doors, hoping that within the next few seconds, only a few ticks on the clock, they would cleanly slide open and let the poor guy in.

However, he never came.

May's feet were sore from pacing around for all that time. She scarcely had a bite to eat, and her stomach was protesting angrily to her refusal to listen to it. It just didn't feel right eating without him, and it was bad enough that Ash had left the Center in a large rush. For what was probably the three hundredth time since that, she released the burden of a sigh from her lungs and out into the artificially sterile air.

"Doesn't look like he's coming back, baby," Kad said with resignation on the couch, his eyes focused on a Sudoku puzzle that he had picked up from a pile a few feet away. He growled under his breath as he erased a row of numbers with considerable frustration, and eraser shavings were already clinging lovingly to his shirt. He looked up from his recumbent position and asked, "Why did he just leave like that, anyway?"

"I don't know…" May groaned with concern, crossing her arms in insecurity. "It's not like him to do that…" As the sun was setting not long before, her heart sank further and further still, the star of her life becoming as dark as the moon. She clutched her chest in hopes of keeping her worry on a leash, but as it grew heavier, it only got harder.

Then it just clicked. As if under the influence of a hypnotist's finger's snap, she suddenly had the drive to just walk out and end her wait. "C'mon, Pikachu," she said sternly, and the yellow mouse complied. With her friend's Pokémon on her shoulder, just as worried about Ash as she was, she stared out into the darkened city, lit only by streetlights and businesses on the night shift.

Kad lifted himself up from the couch and laughed. "You don't plan on going out there and looking for him, do you?"

She slowly turned to face him. "Is there a problem with that?"

"Well," he replied leisurely, "it's nine o'clock. It's way too late. At this time, there are street gangs lurking in the alleys and a lot of other solicit activity going on. If you're caught…"

"I don't care," she said with blunt force. "I know something's wrong with Ash, and I'm going to find out what."

Kad shook his head. "I wouldn't recommend it…" he muttered with singsong in his voice.

"Of course _you_ wouldn't. You treated my and Ash's friendship as if it were just something that could be shoved aside. Well, I _can't_ ignore it; he's my friend, and I…" she froze her tongue as she saw Kad's mischievous grin again, zapping a scowl at him in instinctive reaction. "Well, I just can't, all right? Hey, if you wanted to, you'd help me and Pikachu find him before he gets into trouble, but _nooooo_, you just want to sit back on the couch all day and play that _game_."

Kad's face turned red in the strangest combination of guiltiness and rage. "Hey, don't you _dare_ assume that I don't give a rip about anything, which I do, more than you know!"

"Oh, yeah?" May challenged. "Name one time you respected _anything_ about us!"

A few seconds passed, and she smiled when all she got as a response was helpless silence.

"A-ha! That proves it: You don't understand the feelings I have for…him. You don't understand any feelings at _all_! But go ahead!" She spun around, her bangs whipping her forehead, Pikachu hugging her head tightly. "Make fun of us! See if _we_ care!" She stormed out like a hurricane, blowing the doors open and dashing out, not even bothering to look back.

Kad just stood there, fuming. _Oh, I don't understand, eh?_ his mind ticked. He crossed his arms and glared at his feet as if he were scolding them. _…You really_ are _like her…_

May wished she had a watch on her after what felt like a half-hour after leaving the Center; she left most of her gear behind, as well as her Pokémon, so aside from Pikachu, who had given up riding her and chose to run on foot himself, she was ill equipped. Maybe she should've thought this through… She took pains to scold herself as the chilly night air nipped at her skin.

_Bah, what does Kad know?_ she thought fiercely, cutting herself off from her conscience and focusing her mind on the search at hand. Because of this, it took her a few seconds to notice Pikachu scraping his paws to a stop a few meters on her tail.

"Pikachu?" he called. The tension in his voice tugged on her body like a rope and forced her to come to a halt.

"What is it, Pikachu?" she asked in between lost breath.

"Chu chu pikachu?" the mouse inquired through the assistance of wild hand gestures.

Her irritation suddenly kicked in. "What about Kad?"

"Pika pipi chu pi-chu?"

"What? I was not being too hard on him!" she defended defiantly.

Pikachu only shook his head and muttered, "Chu…"

"Well, he had it coming… Humiliating me, calling me names that drive me nuts, not giving a darn about how I l—uh, enjoy Ash's company!"

Now, May could certainly have imagined Pikachu crossing his arms and smiling had he been human. "Pikapi chu pi, chu chu?"

Though no one could see it, warmth steamed up her face. "Y…you know, don't you?"

"Pi."

May sighed. "Guess it couldn't be avoided… Oh, my gosh, I don't know what to do…" She shielded her weary eyes with her sweaty hand and turned away from the Pokémon timidly and almost sadly.

Pikachu could sense the new distress, carefully approached the girl, and leaned against her shins comfortingly. "Pikachu pika?"

"It's just that it's so…scary…"

From the side, Pikachu could see glimmers of the nearby streetlights streaming down her face like sparks of magic. "Pikachu pi pi chu."

"Well…" She wiped her face dry and looked for any seating close by. The closest thing that came to it was just the curb in the road; so she walked over to it, Pikachu following suit, and sat. She waited for the tears to completely flow away from her eyes before she began. "It's…odd… I've known Ash for years, and ever since the very first day, I knew that there was something special about him. I couldn't put my finger on it, but…I was attached to him somehow.

"As the years went by, our experience grew more and more, and thus, my knowledge of him grew more and more—and the more and more attached I grew to him, even if we did have a spat every now and then." Pikachu, knowing perfectly well what "spats" she had with him, chuckled a bit in reminiscence.

"Then the Millennium Comet came… Oh, how could I have been so _stupid_, forgetting to fold the last tab on that talisman!?" Her hands blanketed her face as more tears began to flow. "My wish…could've come true, Pikachu…"

Pikachu stood still, totally clueless of what to say to ease her. He hated feeling powerless like that…

"Now what do I do? He's already very suspicious—I can tell… What if he thinks I'm, like…weird? What if it screws up our friendship entirely? He has a lot on h-his plate already…"

"Chu… Pikapi cha chu," he said as soothingly as he could, and fortunately, her weeping ebbed a bit.

"You…you say that it doesn't matter? He wouldn't hate me?"

"Pi!"

May knew better than to argue with a best friend of Ash; anyone as close to him as Pikachu would never lie. With just that one magical word—paraphrased, of course, but still—her heart rose back up to her chest, and the doubt that had come to weigh her down had dissipated like fog.

She got back on her feet, more energetic than when she began her search. With that unique May smile, she decreed, "In that case, then, I have nothing to lose! Let's continue looking for Ash, Pikachu!"

With a chirp of approval, the mouse agreed wholeheartedly, and the two resumed their search. But now with the fear in her heart significantly smaller than before, her body felt lighter and ready to face whatever fate had planned between her and the boy she had met in Littleroot Town all those years ago.

The Center assumed an air of peacefulness after May had charged out. The sounds of the clock and the machines in the back rooms bounced off the walls lhtly, each conducting a song in perfect harmony, which hindered Kad's deep thinking. He had been sitting in the waiting room part of the Center, his forearms resting on his knees sloppily. If one looked from the side, he or she could almost see a giant burn on the floor from his sharp glare at the clean tiles. His eyes seldom moved—and seldom blinked. His breathing came slowly, deeply, but filled to the brim with spite.

_A-ha! That proves it: You don't understand the feelings I have for…him. You don't understand any feelings at _all_!_

An hour had passed, and ever since May left, he was busy getting kicked from his own memory. Her words continued to stab at his stomach like rapiers, and try as he might to parry the attacks with focus, each piercing found its mark as if it were under masterful precision. _Maybe she's been right all along?_ he asked himself, combing his hands through his hair brusquely. Remembering more, though, his stubbornness resumed its usual state of power in his head. _Well, I'll be damned if she were. What the hell does she know, anyway?_

Smoke humidly fogged up his mind; before long, he was lost in memories again. It _had_ been a while since he revisited them—however bittersweet they were and how much he'd rather rip them apart like hate mail.

_The smell of damp earth filled the fresh spring air, inflating the young Viridian City boy's lungs like a balloon. The forest always had that refreshing aroma that time of year—the smell that lingers during and after a rainstorm. It was the smell one could say he was at least even remotely addicted to; he was never one to miss taking a whiff of the air during such weather conditions, after all._

_He peered into the forest, a sinister feeling clutching his neck, which he tenderly rubbed upon feeling an imaginary bruise forming. He was not yet ready to become a Trainer, despite his being of age for three years already; he knew he wouldn't last one day alone, away from his family. Of course, he hardly had room to kid anyone, what with his older brother driving him insane twenty-four hours a day. He would miss his parents, but just a little time away from his sibling's constant teasing would be manna from heaven, something he craved just a small taste of._

_Besides…there was she. Dark, straight hair and hazel eyes filled with life, albeit magnified about three times from her large glasses, were built on her young figure quite well. In a passerby's eyes, there was nothing special about her, really—just another girl down the block who happened to like Bug Pokémon. He liked them, too…he denied that not. That was all that was needed to become infatuated._

_They met barely a year ago; from where she was from, however, he didn't find out right away. However, when the moving trucks carrying boxes upon boxes of heavy wool clothing zoomed in, it only made sense to him: Sinnoh. It was known for its relatively cool climate, after all. He proudly shrugged when he pieced the information together, happy that he at least found _something_ useful from that stupid geography class._

_The two caught on rather quickly. It turned out that she was as much of a "nerdy rebel" as he was, and he was pretty thrilled that they at least shared the same kind of insect collection. For many a weekend night, they would go out into that same forest and catch and exchange bugs—and it wasn't uncommon for the sun to sneak up on them from behind. Needless to day, none of their parents were happy when they eventually found out._

_Unfortunately for him, though, she had a bit of…a sensitive nerve. Poke at it once, as he knew from experience, and expect a meltdown. He was unfortunate enough to accidentally step on a special beetle that she had saved from a bird once. She "returned the favor" by releasing all of the bugs he caught the previous weekend when he was off at another friend's house._

_He was ticked off, to say the least, but both of them eventually reconciled, leaving a memory that he was able to chuckle at every time he reflected upon it, as well as adding to the growing collection of blow-ups. There was the time he lost her gerbil (she put graffiti all over his bedroom door), the time he dropped her camera (she tied him down and put makeup all over his face—she obviously found it hilarious), the time he dropped her birthday cake…_

_Then, for some odd reason, he remembered that he was supposed to do something that day… He already paid off his debt to his father for a new bike—yes, his promised payment was due yesterday. He didn't have to work today; that much was certain. He lifted his sleeve and glanced at his watch, the faint LCD showing "4:32 P.M." _Dang,_ he thought as he shook his head, _I need a new watch… _He pressed the Date button, which was sticky from dirt and swamp grime, and the numbers changed to "3/9." Then it hit him like a train._

Oh, crap!_ the alarm in his head blared. _April's birthday is today! Oh, crap, crap, crap, _crap_! I hope she didn't find out where my slingshot is! _Grass practically tore at the roots as he ran as quickly as he could toward the suburb. The wind blew in his face and made bold attempts to slow him down, but like a bull charging at a waving flag, he chased the destination down like a bulldog after a bone._

_Before long, his feet loudly kissed the solid concrete of the sidewalk, he himself rudely bumping into pedestrians as he passed the police station and the drug store. He wound past the butcher's shop, zipped across the road, sprinted through an elderly person's hedges, and screeched to a halt when he reached the end of the road—right on April's lawn._

_Through exhausted wheezes, he approached the scratched wooden door on unstable legs. April's family had acquired the house from some semi-wealthy family, but over the years, it had depreciated greatly; thus, compared to the price it originally had going for it, it was practically a steal. Of course, after the purchase, the girl's family fixed it up and refurbished it a little, but the twosome's previous endeavors had ensured at least a little chipping of the paint._

_He softly knocked on the door, which flew open right on impact and smacked the wall on the inside. He started slightly from the slam, but then his eyes widened to the size of golf balls when he saw, right in front of him, a relatively short brunette with emerald eyes, thick-rimmed glasses, and a checkered shirt—his girl April's standard attire._

_His heart was pierced with fear when she greeted his presence with a knife-sharp glare. "You're late," she huffed, steam spouting out of her ears._

"_Oh, am I?" he questioned as he swiftly checked his watch. "4:47." He looked up, confused. "I told you I'd be here around five."_

"_Yeah, well, you always come half an hour earlier than what you promise. I was standing here for, like, twenty minutes!"_

_Her face grew redder as silence was his immediate response, followed with a simple, "Then I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, April."_

_Her black socks squeaked against the wood-finished floor as she spun around and whipped her face with her long ponytail. "Just don't make a habit out of it, will you?" she whined softly. Without looking back, she waved her hand and ushered him inside, an offer which he cautiously accepted. The door snapped closed behind him, almost as if it were trying to scare him off. It did a good deal of that, at least—old houses always gave him the creeps, especially since he'd been watching that one show on television about ghost stories…_

_He plopped his shoes by the door and followed his girlfriend to the living room. He tiptoed across the coffee-stained green carpet to avoid waking the curly-haired woman snoozing on the sofa, the TV whispering against the wood-padded wall. April, however, practically stomped her way through, her feet spewing steam, and gave no hints of whether or not she actually cared._

_As they closely approached her room, Kad spotted the assorted collection of various butterflies and larvae pinned to corkboard plaques with long pinhead needles. Littered across the floor were papers of bug facts that she glanced at only once before tossing them, some of which met their fates as palm-sized basketballs piled around a thin-wired wastepaper basket that was sitting next to her dusty laptop._

_April swept her feet over the floor, the abandoned sheets of paper crumpling under her weight, and took a seat on her half-made bed. "So, then," she began, "did you forget anything? Your hat? Your coat? Anything at all?"_

"_That's a bit of a strange question to ask when I just walked through the door."_

_The girl laughed hysterically—it was almost alien, really. To him, it sounded like a Mankey chasing a Caterpie. Kad recoiled in mild fear of his well-being._

"_Oh, silly me! I must've worded it wrong, then. I guess what I should be asking is…do you know what day it is?"_

"_Wednesday?" Kad asked stupidly, solely to tick her off, something he liked doing on occasion._

_Sure enough, she was miffed enough to shoot a glare at him. "Well, of _course_ it's Wednesday, you twit!" she answered with profuse scorn._

_He gave in. "Your birthday…?" he braced with a groan._

_Just like that, she switched to a chipper mood; if it was one thing that absolutely freaked Kad out about April, it was that her mood swings were absolutely _horrid_. He was actually rather surprised that he liked her despite that…_

"_Very good, Matthew! You remembered!" she cooed. Much like her mood, the status quo also turned on a dime; as such, Kad loosened up and sighed in relaxation, leaving himself vulnerable to her "charm" once again. "Now, did you get me anything?"_

_Her eager attitude didn't fail to put him into a state of a little, yet considerable, guilt. He was saving up his money for a new computer, but from the rush of remembering her birthday to begin with, he kind of forgot to get out of his way to get her something. Of course, he would be even more "late," but at least she would've understood…he hoped…_

"_Not yet."_

"_Why ever not?"_

"_I…" He tripped over his words, careful not to divulge his inconsideration. "It's on my to-do list."_

_They were silent for a few minutes. Her hamster stood on all fours by her bed and spectated the conversation; but he retreated to the small, wooden shelter when it looked like she was going to explode as her ultimate response. As a matter of fact, though, it didn't escalate to that point._

"_That didn't answer my question," April bluntly put._

_Kad scratched his eyebrow nervously. "What do you want me to say? Either way, I don't have a gift."_

"_Slacker," she teased, looking up at the white blinds on her window. They were still coated in dried apple juice from the incident weeks ago that Kad remembered with a shudder. "Well, I suppose if you were going to give me a gift in the first place, then it wouldn't hurt if I waited for a few _more_ hours…"_

"_So… I take it you're sending me off to do birthday shopping today…?"_

"_If you don't, then I guess you'll never see your slingshot again…" she taunted in singsong, pulling a small wrist rocket out of her pocket and waving it in front of her face. Kad reached in to snatch it, but she quickly pulled it back, likening the situation to a cat owner taunting her cat with a piece of twine. "No! Not until you do your duty as a boyfriend!"_

_Kad couldn't believe it: The _one _fear he had prior to going to her house. It turned out that she was quick to the punch… _I _knew_ I shouldn't have told her where it was! _Alas, however, he was put on the spot. All he could do was sigh in defeat._

"_Okay, babe," Kad said in resignation, "I'll get you something. Won't be a problem."_

"_I told you before to not call me that," April pouted with a strong glare, getting up to shove him out of the room. "And try to make it a surprise, will you?" The door slammed right in front of his face, and the sound waves that left her mouth were greatly muffled, almost to the point of being indiscernible._

"_All right, fine."_

_Figuring it wise to avoid a disaster, he turned around, tiptoed across the living room again, and ran off his girlfriend's lawn. He felt his pocket, and from it, the warmth of his money that was beginning to melt his wallet was tingling his fingers. So he set off, following the list he compiled mentally, to the first store he had in mind: the bookstore._

May praised the Lord that the weather was fair that night—cool, quiet, and dry, with just a hint of humidity; all the running and searching left both Pikachu and her with heaving breaths and drops of sweat to complement the lack of leads. Of course it wouldn't be easy for them to find Ash in the overall eeriness of the city night, but at least the air wasn't making it plain miserable for them.

It felt like hours of searching had eaten into their time; now she _really_ wished she had a watch on her. It had to have been past curfew by then, and she deeply hoped that she wouldn't be caught by the police. Stealth was the key, and treading in the shadows was what she had to do—avoiding the streetlights and the luminous rooms from late-night restaurants and shops was compulsory.

But when she had tripped for the fifth time (scraping her elbow and knee in the process, no doubt), however, she just ditched her ninja-like approach to the matter and went back to using the streetlights as a guide, all the while gingerly rubbing her small injuries.

The two stopped dead in their tracks when a police car loomed overhead with an unfortunate citizen discussing with one of the many Officer Jennies in Kanto about parking tickets. She could hear voices—confused, angry, and stern—arguing amongst themselves forcefully; it was so loud she thought they were going to wake the entire block.

_If Pikachu and I walk out there, we'll be seen…_ May pondered, her index finger pressed softly to her chin. Just a twitch of her eye gave her an alternative, however: From where she was standing, there were two buildings and an alley of stiff earth. Trash cans towered like hurdles on a track, and toward the end was an old neon light flickering in the darkness—perhaps an inanimate manifestation of the guys with cap guns at track events.

_I'm going to regret this…_ her mind shook in gauged apprehension—but her body moved forward in spite of it. "Come on, Pikachu," her weak voice piped, which reverberated cleanly off the faded, brick-clad walls. The mouse followed behind slowly with irregular footsteps joined in harmony with the sound of pebbles being crushed into the dirt.

Not only was the walk ominous, but it was also relatively long for an alleyway. The lack of depth perception accompanied the skimpy amount of light, and what looked like only a few meters turned out to be dozens—but maybe it was just her imagination? The darkness has a way of playing tricks on one's eyes, and it was bad enough that she barely had the ability to see her hands that clumsily outstretched to detect obstacles.

It was possible that it wouldn't be so bad, though. There was clearly nothing but trashcans, dumpsters, and popped lids hiding in the shadows; and the neon sign was getting larger and larger with each passing step. Yeah, they were alone, and Officer Jenny wouldn't think to look in an alley for a minor on the loose.

Too bad one of her outstretched hands were painfully snatched by an invisible force that pulled them both behind her back, and a living shadow made an effort to keep her mouth clamped shut. She could feel thin wire being wrapped forcibly around her wrists—any struggle only had it dig deeper into her flesh.

Pikachu's cheeks sparked violently as he charged up an attack to scare off the assailant; however, a flash of neon flickered in his eyes as a dagger found its way riding on May's neck. "If you do anything, she gets it," a forced voice growled. It was fake, fabricated—obviously to effectively hide the identity. To May, it was somewhat obvious that the man knew something he didn't want her to know about, but all she really cared about doing, and tried to do, was to scream her lungs out.

A muffled cry did manage to escape the man's gloved hand, but unfortunately, that was all it was: Muffled. Quiet. Essentially voided, without future reply. The smell of the man's nigh-invisible gloves wafted into her nostrils as she stiffened her body. The clean smell of hand sanitizer stank the air up around her; in regular circumstances, the smell would at least be somewhat enjoyable for her, but now it just made her want to vomit.

Merely considering taking a detour through a poorly-lit alley was disturbing enough. She had read the statistics, watched the news, heard the stories—all those poor girls yanked from the face of the earth because of one false step into hostile territory. She shuddered to think about the same kind of horrible event happening to her that very second…

The assailant dragged her into the hovering neon light, which was within arm's reach by now; and behind the dark ski mask and black scarf, his beady eyes got a good look at May's pseudo-struggling, angelic physique. "Boy, are you a beaut!" he lauded lustfully, with which she snapped back with a muffled call from the anger deep within her stomach. Her fear, conversely, kept in check what would be the influence of her sudden fate, if it were to nastily curse Pikachu's eyes at that point in time.

"Now, now. I wouldn't struggle if I were you. We don't want this rusty knife to shank your pretty little neck, do we?" Without any noticeable calling from the distance, he tugged on the wire around her wrists, and when the heels of her feet dug deeply into the ground from shock, he pulled even harder, causing her to yelp in pain from the further constriction. Pain erupted from her violated hands like lava, and she could feel the blood bursting from her injury, some of which the ground instantly met, self-categorized as much-needing in nourishment.

The flickering, green light on her body began to fade back into the black of night, her struggle obviously proving fruitless. All she really had as a chance to escape was the yellow Pokémon that regrettably had to let her go—or else had to risk the unthinkable. Try as May might to get the words out, they all came up garbled and unintelligible. To Pikachu, though, it was obvious: he desperately didn't want her out of his sight, but unfortunately, the only option he had was to get Ash.

Grains of dirt and flecks of dust flew as he high-tailed it out of the alley and back into the streetlight-lit darkness of Viridian City. Sparks nervously peppered out of his cheeks, but that was hardly enough to light the ground ahead; on occasion, he would narrowly miss, say, the curb in the turning road or falling into a pothole. Despite the apparent obstacles, he continued diligently and never gave an eager ear to listen to his legs' pleas for rest. And he most certainly refused to look back.

May and Ash were the only ones important to him now. He couldn't possibly deny her help in her hour of desperation. If anything were to happen to that girl…Pikachu kept his mind closed to it. He himself couldn't stand the grief— he had no idea how Ash would be able to take it if it were to happen…

_Where in the world is he?_

The leaf-rustling from the instant takeoff of wild Spearow forced his eyes open. He seemed to have dozed off hours ago, but of course, to him, it felt like only a few minutes had passed. There were no interesting dreams to entertain him, as far as he could remember. The only thing that kept him company were the small, black ants that naïvely explored the topography of his grass-stained jeans and the wind-stiffened skin that padded his arms.

Ash tried moving his head, but the sharp pain of bark leaving the warm embrace of his neck's flesh forced him to reconsider. Eh, it wasn't like he felt like getting up anyway; he could hardly see his nose, despite the fact that the moon was smiling at the sleeping earth like a father seeing his child to bed. Plus, it didn't help that his emotional energy had been sapped almost completely while he had napped—and in the end, gloominess was all that remained of the evaporated lake of grief that had once filled his eyes.

The chilling zephyr wound through his hair and chilled him to the bone, but he didn't much care. Although he did have to admit that the grass was a bit of a nuisance at times, it wasn't like anything particularly groundbreaking gave him the drive to drag him from that energy-leached spot, even if the ants on him would sometimes crawl precariously close to his mouth or his nostrils.

His hat was twisted on its axis while he slept, slowly moving into an uncomfortable position as he tossed and turned his head in constant, nightmarish worry. It was a wonder, evidently, how the heck he was able to ignore all the discomfort in order to dive into the depths of his unconsciousness, but thoughts of May did to his body what no herb or medicine could possibly do a third of.

The mental drain could've been the guilt, he figured—the guilt of leaving her behind without any bother of giving a few measly seconds divulging where he wanted to escape to (nowhere in particular). _Was it really that bad…?_ he wondered in his defense, a rarity throughout the night. _If I told her right then and there, Kad would've just died of laughter, and I would have never heard the end of it…_

He mustered what little recovered will he had and lifted his head up, and then his torso, resting it against the stiff, rough bark of the tree he was lying beneath. He looked up into the deep space of the heavens; the moon looked happy, at least—completely full and raring to work off the energy before sleep—an irony, of course, considering the time of day. Not a single cloud was present in the sky, so the stars twinkled brilliantly in concord with the moon's apparent cosmic bliss.

All of a sudden, an incredible spark of yellow lightning that seemed to have struck a building somewhere in the city, followed by a colossal crash of thunder that ripped his ears off, woke him right up and forced him to his feet in panic. _Lightning!? What the heck!? _It was obviously less than a mile away; in fact, it was a long shot to call it even a half-mile.

Something was not right, though… Lightning on a clear night and not even a cloud in sight, and the optimum humidity was clearly lacking for such power to be expected. There was only one logical explanation for it…

In response, he set off into a sprint toward the city, his hat bouncing frivolously atop his head in a threat to fall off. He held it down instinctively and continued running. Before long, the streetlights grew brighter in magnitude; his vision gradually brightened, and the air became, slightly but surely, more artificial.

_Okay, well, I'm back…_ he thought as he searched the area timidly. He was still in shock from the sudden crash in sound, but his panic was kept in check when he saw a yellow blur rushing toward him. Small sparks angrily skipped around the figure's compact body—he could only smile when he felt the familiar feeling of static electricity threatening to zap him.

"Pikachu! So it _was_ you!" Ash laughed as he reached to embrace his Pokémon, who backed off nervously. He raised an eyebrow, but just by looking at the mouse's face, he could eventually sense the incredible, hidden tension masked behind his face. "What's wrong, buddy?"

"Chu! Pikachu! Pika pika-kapi pichu chu!" he jittered, his threatening, four-legged stance beckoning the boy to follow him. Ash did not hesitate, and so both of them broke into a run down the dank road.

"What's wrong with her!?"

Pikachu answered only with the dust flying behind him, which yelled, "Just shut up and follow me!" Well, how could he have argued with that?

And so the two continued closing the gap between them and May, the flickering of the lights around them cheering them on and rooting for more speed. By now, both of them were sweating boulders from the heat of their sprint, fueled hugely by the prayers that she was all right…

The man threw May's already-hurting body to the ground as if she were a puppet tangled in its own strings. She fell face-forward, sharp rocks digging into her cheek, and mouth ingesting dry dirt. The gift of fresh air entering her lungs forced the dust to invade her throat, so some deep voices in the darkness around her laughed at her then-violent sputtering and coughing.

"You found another one," one of them said as soon as her choking had ceased. "You've outdone yourself again, S."

"It's all a part of the job," he remarked. Though he tried to remain modest about it, the hint of conceit in his voice completely ruined the façade. He gave up on maintaining it and changed his tone back to one tinted with venomous threat. "Now, about my payment…"

Despite being in considerable pain, May still managed to overhear them without even uttering a whimper—but with the annoying ringing in her ears beginning to give her a massive headache, the torment threatened to suddenly burst forth with a bang and put her into even more trouble than before. It was obvious the pool of tears forming in the dirt was justified.

"Payment?" the other guy asked. "We thought of you as one of those guys who thought doing the job was its own reward."

"And I thought of _you _as one of those gangs who were desperate for a mate to prey on. (May's heart fell through the ground as the words crashed through her ears like drums in a metal room.) I don't give credit, as I thought I told you before." His voice, as somewhat lighthearted as it was making the situation, was filling up more and more with impatience. Everyone could feel the very air around them pressurize with the rising tension.

"Whoa, dude, don't get testy," the gang leader asked, approaching May. "You _are_ a valuable hired hand, after all. For something as good as _this_—" he gave May a strong, sharp kick in the back, which garnered a yelp and a few laughs, "—you do kind of deserve it…"

S approached both of them, the sand crunching under his boots as if it were snow. "I'm glad we finally agree on something."

May could hear the jingling of coins above her sprawled head; it was almost musical and relaxing to her, but another strong kick, this time to her chest, instantly had her at a loss of breath and a loss of intelligible expressions other than, "YEARG!!!" She lifted her legs toward her torso to defend herself as much as possible from the pain, but more kicks and grabs from more people kept coming.

"Stop it! STOP IT!!!" she pleaded, but that only called for more aggressive approaches. Her defensive curl tightened as the gang members were pulling at her blouse.

She just couldn't imagine it. Why was she there? Why did this have to happen? Why didn't she risk getting arrested and taking the other road? From then on out, she pledged to never sneak out at night again—if she made it out alive, that is.

_Ash…_ she called from her mind as strongly as she could, the sobs deeply piercing her heart. _Please help me…_

"_STOP IT!!!"_ Ash picked up over his heavy heaving breaths. He knew that voice…

Blood pumped even more quickly through his body, and already, the speed was dangerously high. Knives filled his chest—pain bled out and pulled a tear about once every five breaths. Worst of all, stopping was not an option for him; he would not allow himself to rest, especially since he heard May's plight for help. His lungs were going to hate him forever…

Suddenly, after dashing across an overpass bridge, Pikachu zipped to the right into the fated dark alley. Ash slowed for a bit when it finally hit him, why Pikachu was taking him there… He then unexpectedly had the strongest desire to vomit from fear and disgust at the situation. It wrenched his gut as if it just experienced a strong punch.

Instead of throwing up, however, energy filled his legs; the earth shook as they practically vibrated at mach speed. And instead of acid coming out of his mouth, words sprayed all over the alley walls: "I'M COMING, MAY!"

A broken neon light flickered overhead and guided his way, preventing him from blindly crashing into rotting garbage cans and running into discarded road signs. When he finally reached the end, his heart snapped from his chest when he saw her, wired to the ground and getting abused and struggling from being de-clothed. Rage unlike any that had filled his soul before had erupted in his veins—_ohhh_, he wanted to make them pay. He wanted to make them _all_ pay. _Dearly_.

He snatched one of his Poké Balls on his belt, crushed the button in the center, and chucked it at a gang member's head. _"SCEPTILE, GET RID OF THESE GUYS!"_ he roared as the ball flew through the air and actually did hit one of the guys in the head. Satisfying as it was, he was somewhat surprised at the words that blasted out of his mouth like a megaphone—the voice sounded different than his usual one. It was aggressive, hateful, full of malice, and complete with a desire to maim. For that minute, he was not the Ash he knew.

In a flash of light, the giant, green reptile with knife-like leaves materialized and towered above the startled men and the beat-up girl. "Scep-TILE!" the Pokémon yelled, forcing them to back away slowly.

May weakly lifted her head up. "Ash…" she sighed in relief, smiling despite the cuts dominant on her face. "You…came…" And then she fainted on the spot, her head falling back to the ground in what looked like the most uncomfortable position possible.

"_All right_, WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON!?" the voice inside Ash continued to scream. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HER!?"

The men were silent for a moment before looking at each other and then doubling over in laughter.

"Don't you dare patronize me!" Ash retorted forcefully.

"And why shouldn't we?" said the leader, flicking away a tear. "You come barging in alone, backed up by none other than that lizard and that rat. You don't expect us to laugh?"

"Just—! Ugh, _SHUT UP!!!_ You're not getting away with this! Sceptile, use Leaf Blade on them!"

The leaves on Sceptile's forearms began to glow a bright green, and the channeled anger flickered in his eyes as he charged toward the group. However, his stampede was impeded with a stream of fire coming from his four o'clock. He dodged it rather well, but he cursed under his breath when he saw the flaming fur of Arcanine billowing in front of him.

The leader juggled the Poké Ball in his hand, his scruffy smile making Ash feel a little dirty. "You're not the only Trainer around these parts, kid. All of my gang is a force to be reckoned with. See, you can't win here; already, we've called for the other members to back us up. It's only a matter of time before they get here and give you a beating you won't soon forget."

Ash glared at the man—he hated him. It was completely out of his nature to hate, but to see him cause May such agony… He just wanted to claw his eyes out. So _very_ much…

"You do have a choice," the leader continued. "You can either recall your Pokémon and leave us be, or you can die trying to rescue your girlfriend. You have only a minute to think about it."

Ash was silent. He didn't care if he was going to get hurt or whatever the men said to him; he just wanted May out of there. Feeding their egos would not do well, though…so he reached for a second Poké Ball and tossed it into the air. "COME OUT, CHARIZARD!" In another flash of light, the dragon proudly swooped through the air and released an awe-inspiring blast of flame into the air. The fire could've been seen from hundreds of meters away, an obvious testament to the Pokémon's and Trainer's shared rage.

Ash rushed over to where May was and carefully picked her up. She lied limply in his arms, and while asleep, she looked so fragile—and she looked pretty broken up to begin with. Tears welled up in his eyes as he looked at the terrible damage in the faint neon light: Her wrists were all cut up from wire and were bleeding pretty badly, and they were deeply irritated from the dirt; bruises and cuts marred her face; and her shirt, cleverly hiding the large bruises on her back and stomach, was severely ripped and struggling to stay on her body.

Ash recalled Sceptile with great thanks, and a second or so afterward, Charizard landed with a small quake, intimidating, as well as challenging, the large Arcanine with a glare. Ash carried the unconscious girl over to the dragon and delicately placed her in his arms. "Okay, buddy," he began as he and Pikachu climbed on Charizard's back, "get us out of here!"

The Fire-type roared in compliance, kicking the ground at maximum strength and shooting into the sky. Pikachu was having a little trouble clutching onto Ash's jacket, but the Trainer helped him out by giving him a boost. "Now, we need to get to a safe place, Charizard! They'll only follow us to the Pokémon Center… Looks like the thicket up ahead is the only place where we can hide without them following us."

With one strong flap of his wings, Charizard blasted ahead at full speed. Wind rushed through Ash's hair and gave him a hard time seeing ahead. Through his blurred vision, he leaned over to check on May; she was still unconscious, he saw… _It better not be too late…_ the same voice that possessed him earlier threatened in his head. _Because if it is…_

Ash shook it off, trying to, instead, focus on the area ahead, and he gasped in surprise when Charizard suddenly took a dive. It was hardly a minute or so, and they were already there. Like a helicopter hovering over the brush of an open meadow, the lizard flapped his wings and forced large gusts of wind down. The leaves of the trees flapped in discontent, and the bird Pokémon nesting in the trees cawed in protest, many of them flying in disgust. Within seconds, though, the flapping stopped, and all was once again silent.

Ash and Pikachu hopped off Charizard's back, happy that they no longer had to worry about those goons. The latter smiled as he gently handed May over to his friend. Ash returned the smile. "Very good job, Charizard. We owe you one."

He turned to a nearby oak tree and laid her down under its protective canopy. By now, her hair was completely messed up, hardly her signature V shape anymore, distorted by the wind and the physical abuse; in short, she looked like she barely survived a warrior gauntlet.

He turned her around and looked at her hands. In the dark, they remained invisible under the moonlight, but with the ample amount of light from the flame on Charizard's tail, they were caked in blood and dirt. It was a wonder that she could've survived that kind of damage… Carefully, he grasped the wire and unwound it. He flinched when he had to tug on the wire to sever its connection with the flesh, but when it was all untied, he discarded it without a second thought.

He reached into his bag and scavenged for the old bandage tape he bought a few weeks ago, the disinfectant, and however much water he had left in his canteen (not much). With the water, he washed out as much of the dirt as he could, gagging when some of the blood washed onto his hands and soaked into the ground. Disinfecting came next—as he sprayed it on, he thought that maybe she twitched in pain, but her body was still predominantly limp. He merely shrugged and continued.

When her wrists were finally damp with disinfectant, he took the tape and carefully wrapped them up. He never had experience in mummification, of course, so his bandage-work was rather subpar. When it was tight enough to pass, though, he considered the overall treatment to be a job well done.

Delicately, he flipped her around again and placed his pack under her head. He couldn't help but smile at her serene beauty, even if it was marred from considerable abuse; she just didn't have a care in the world other than the one in her mind—the peace of the best kind. He took his jacket off and used it to cover her vulnerable body.

Pikachu yawned loudly, garnering Ash's attention. "You tired, buddy?" he asked, still smiling. "Well, we should probably be getting to sleep, then. It _is_ very late…" He himself covered his mouth in a yawn of his own; his eyes drooped a little lower than usual, and the sweet smell of sleep that was wafting into his breath filled his lungs, messing with his mind. So he took a seat next to the sleeping May, his head against the base of the tree, and closed his eyes completely. The faint ticking of time finally lulled him to sleep, with Pikachu and Charizard following suit in much the same fashion.

May awoke the next day from the natural cries of the Pidgey rebuilding their nest above them. Sunlight filtered through the tree's highest branches like sunrays flying through a cabin's attic windows. She yawned loudly, raising her arms up into a gigantic stretch, feeling the energy pump back into her system. When she looked up at her wrists, however, she saw the bandages, and instantly, memories from the night before came back to her in a tsunami of trauma.

She brought her knees up to her chest and lied there, completely immobile from the terrible experience. The shock from being snatched, the intense pain, and the close brush with death itself forced her to break down into fits of sobs. _I can't believe I had to experience that…_ she thought to try to escape the tears. _If it weren't for him, there'd be no doubt that… Wait, speaking of which, where is he?_

She looked around the "campsite," and all she could see were Pikachu and Charizard snoozing nearby. Ash was…gone without a trace, really. Kind of scared to be alone, she got up and searched the area, limping a bit from her tender muscles. "Ash?" she called out in no particular direction.

"Yeah?" Ash replied, poking his head out from behind the tree. May shrieked in shock; on instinct, Pikachu and Charizard woke up and found themselves in a defensive stance. However, when they saw it was just Ash, they grumbled and stumbled away groggily to get back to sleep.

"Sorry about that…" Ash apologized sincerely.

"It's—okay…" she replied whilst trying to recover from her heavy breathing.

Ash slowly walked around the tree, putting himself into her view. His shirt was off for some reason, but when she looked down, she found that he had been using it for a bag to hold whatever berries he found nearby. He didn't find much, but it was enough to last the day, at least.

Regardless, she couldn't suppress her blush from seeing Ash shirtless. The pressure forced her to turn her head to the side and focus on the ivy bushes. She jumped from the release of tension when she heard his inquisitive tone vibrate the air around her.

He vigilantly walked over to her until he was about three feet away. "So, May, are you feeling any better?"

She looked down at her bandaged wrists—tight from the wrapping and irritable to the touch. "Well, I…" she stammered, still newly examining her injuries in broad afternoon daylight. It was about a half-minute or so when she completely surveyed the harm on her, so Ash was surprised when she suddenly fell forward into his arms and buried her face into his bare chest. "Oh, Ash! Thank you!" she sobbed. "Thank you for coming!"

"Uh, me?" he asked modestly, this time being his turn to blush madly. "It was Pikachu who brought me to you."

"If it weren't for you guys, those guys would've…! Oh, I just don't want to think of it!"

In an instinct to help comfort the girl, Ash wrapped his arms around her into a warm embrace. "It's all right, May. I'm here, and nobody else is going to harm you."

Her sobbing began to slow as the warmth from his hug seeped into her body, rebuilding some of the endurance that she had lost the night prior. Her muscles relaxed more, and before long, it got to a point where she could almost go back to sound sleep—just like that.

Ash, however, remembered what happened hours _before_ the brutal attack; he remembered why they were even out there in the first place. It was that fated Poké Ball throw; while those with experience in the art of smashing their opponents off into the distance would call it a mere "lucky catch," he, on the other hand, found it as a matter that he just couldn't keep from her. His time alone may have helped him get back on his feet from the sudden realization…

But now he just had to go back in for the kill. _Well, Ketchum, it's now or never…_

While Ash opened his mouth to break the question to her, May beat him to the punch with a concern of her own. "Ash, I need to tell you something."

Well, how convenient. Maybe they could get both confessions out at the same time? "What is it? I'm all ears."

"You remember when you rushed out of the Pokémon Center yesterday?"

_Yep, she's definitely wondering,_ he deduced with a small nod. Figuring that it was high time she knew, he tapped into the courage that he had built up just for that occasion and released the hug. "Actually, I was going to talk to you about that."

"Really?" she said, chuckling. "Go ahead and tell me, then." She led him over to the tree where she had just been sleeping. Ash helped her sit down due to her obvious limp—she was sure to thank him while he sat himself down next to her, cross-legged and ready to spin his yarn.

And so he began recapping everything that went on inside him during that momentous match. Some feelings were a given, like the fast-paced adrenaline from avoiding his opponents and striking back. Others were "subjectively objective," like his amusement at her and Kad's pseudo-friendly rivalry.

And others were, of course, difficult to explain.

"Remember when I threw that Poké Ball and Manaphy came out?"

"Yeah."

"…You won't get mad, will you?" he asked gloomily. Her laugh, however, put his fears back into check.

"It can't be that bad. I mean, it's not like you killed my Blaziken or anything."

"Well…when I saw him appear, I felt like I got pummeled in the stomach or something. I couldn't explain why it didn't happen like that to me before, but when memories of…you know…came back to me, feelings from the past came back to me with them. I just couldn't…show you. They were too strong, and I wasn't able to hold them in. So I ran."

"Feelings, you say?" May asked in a curious, teasing tone. "What kind?"

Ash hesitated. "Um…It's just…kind of like… Can't… Should I…? What… Ugh…" The right words just wouldn't come out. He tried to imagine himself banging his head with a hammer to get the words to erupt, but when it turned out that the die gave him a roll of one instead of the needed six, he gave in. "I…don't know if I can explain it."

_Okay, this is it…_ "In that case, Ash, let me…help you out." The look on May's face was scaring him a little—it was filled with mischief and anticipation, two things that he couldn't predict in her very well.

"Wh-what do y—!?" Then the emotions came back to him in another huge wave, the water crushing him like the sand on a beach and washing him away to swim in it. The same energy that knocked him off of his feet the day before returned and showed him no mercy; his stomach once again felt like it was struck by a sledgehammer. As if he were a rocket, his inner being bounced off the walls, completely defenseless and, soon, immobile.

His face felt like it was going to explode from heat when the blunt reality hit him: May's lips pressed against his own in a tender kiss.

While it lasted for about ten seconds, after she broke it off, she laughed when his eyes completely lost focus. For a second, she thought he was going to topple over and pass out from shock.

"Is that what you wanted to say?" she asked with a huge grin.

Although out of his zone, he still managed to bob his head sloppily in a nod.

"Well," she continued smiling, "that explains a lot. In that case, I accept."

"Huh?" was all he could respond with without resorting to gobbledygook.

"Of course I accept your proposal to be my husband!" she giggled.

This time, Ash _did_ topple over backwards. He must've fallen too hard or something, because he lost complete control over his mouth, uttering nonsense that only he could understand. She cracked up at his response, almost falling backwards herself in mirth.

"Oh, come on, Ash, I was just kidding! We're a little young to be marrying, don't ya think?"

It took a minute for him to recover completely from the sudden comment. "Uh…y-yeah…" Embarrassed, he didn't bother lifting himself up; instead, he kept the conversation going. "So, does this mean we need to start holding hands in public and stuff like that from now on?"

May looked slightly disappointed when she heard Ash's dreadful tone. "Aww… You mean you don't want to?"

"Yeah, I d—uh, I mean…! …You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am," she cackled evilly. If he didn't know any better, he'd say that she started growing horns on her head and pulled a pitchfork out of her pocket. Just as soon as her new, menacing appearance had materialized, the cute, innocent demeanor he had known her for had shoved it out of his eyes. "But I suppose you've been teased enough for today."

Both had a moment of shared laughter from what just ensued. He didn't exactly want her to know, but to tell the truth, he was enjoying the moment, as well. He never did have enough moments lately to sit down and laugh at his shortcomings.

After the laughter died down, though, Ash's face secretly changed from lighthearted to dreadful. "May…" he said in hopes of removing the newly planted seed of doubt in his chest.

"What?" she responded softly, hearing the worry in his voice.

"Since things have now officially changed between us, what's going to happen now?"

May shrugged. "I can't say. I'm not a psychic."

"What if something bad happens to one of us, then? What if, say, the events from last night are, for some reason, repeated? What if something happens…?"

She gave it a moment to think about it. He was right, of course: The future is a vast, unpredictable thing. They couldn't possibly see who would come or who would go or what would happen or what they would gain or lose. It's like a strong current, she thought; if one tried to fight against it, he or she would only be swept away from what could've been if he or she swam with it. _Meh, I'm not the best poet in the world…_ she thought in self-scorn.

After awhile, though, it hit her. "I guess…in this case, then, we should make a vow."

"A vow?"

"Sure! A vow that no matter what happens to us, whether it's good or bad, we will always be there to back each other up."

Ash frowned. "You make it sound so easy…"

"I never said it would be. But it's not impossible. It can only be easier if we make a promise to each other. It'll be easier on me, at least…"

When he felt the tingle of a spider crawling in his hair, he lifted himself up and swiftly, but gently, swiped it off and mulled over her suggestion. _It sounds doable… It wouldn't hurt._

"Okay, May," he accepted, lifting a pinky finger. "No matter what happens."

May herself struggled a bit in stretching her own pinky finger without overexerting her healing hand, but the promise itself was easy enough to make. "No matter what," she repeated.

Both smiled at the other when they shook, their vow finalized and indestructible. They now had nothing to worry about; even though it was definite that there would be obstacles up ahead (Ash instantly remembered the competition with Stan that was today…), it was nothing that the two could overcome.

They were ready for anything.

…_Now my friends are with me…_

_

* * *

_

**Finally! Both Ash and May have revealed their feelings for each other! This calls for a party! *does victory dance***

**Well, anyway, the tourney is coming up! Will our beloved couple prevail, or will both be three-stocked mercilessly from Meta Knight's beastly gimping ability, Snake's troublesome Ftilts, or Ike's overpowered forward smash? And what exactly did Kad mean when he said, "You really **_**are**_** like her"?**

**Eh, search me. I guess you'll just have to wait for the final event and see for yourselves. ;)**


	5. Locked in Combat

**It...is...here... Finally, after...a year, was it? The final chapter of _Teching Cupid's Arrow_ is finally here!**

**I originally wanted to show this in November on Advanceshipping Day for the story's one-year anniversary, but I couldn't get the motivation in time to get it done by then. But then I settled for March 9, which is a very special day for me. Two years ago today, Masahiro Sakurai's masterpiece game, _Super Smash Bros. Brawl_, was released in the United States. Given the theme for this story, that's rather appropriate, no? ...Well, _I_ thought it was... v_v;**

**Now, then! Without further ado, let's finish this! I present to you the fifth and final event of _Teching Cupid's Arrow_!**

**

* * *

**

_Endgame: Locked in Combat_

…_Some of them were once heroes; some, my mortal enemies…_

Kad awoke to the familiar sound of bells from the Center's front doors slowly opening. Strangely, the noise startled him to the point of bolting upright from the couch (_Huh, how did I get here…?_ he wondered) and seeing who it was. He slammed his head back down when he saw that it was just a girl, around twelve years old, carefully cradling a banged-up Wartortle and rushing to the front desk to greet the once-again-cheerful Nurse Joy with second-long long breaths of both panic and grueling defeat.

He couldn't really say why, but he was in an even fouler mood than usual. He couldn't say that he was drowsy or was completely dead from sleeping for too long—the clock on the wall only said 9:12. Then again, he vaguely remembered a dream he had previously, but that was it—vague. He could recite all of what he had remembered of it in a measly five seconds, if that.

He forced himself off the couch and did his usual "early-morning survey," as he called it. His worry minutely increased—the key word being _minutely_—when he found that May had not returned since last night; Ash, of course, was also nowhere in sight. "I hope they didn't forget about the competition today…" he muttered to himself, shaking his head lightly.

The windows were particularly useless in the sense of finding them—neither one was in sight, that is. Too bad he couldn't see through buildings or something… Tensions began rising more and more when the minutes ticked by; the question started shifting from, _Why am I getting nervous about this?_ to, _Am I bored or something?_ And of course, he couldn't answer either of them.

But then two familiar figures showed up on the horizon… Yes, it was definitely two of them… Their clothing color was pretty hard to decipher from the distance, but upon seeing them, his heart rose back up a bit, forcing a breath of relief out of him. To get a better look, he waited at the double doors, but after a minute or so, he went back to his seat when it was just the twins that were playing the other day.

Moments later, a _whoosh_ from the double doors brought everyone's attention to the front. The twins traipsed to the T.V. area, looking as…nearly identical as always. Only their hats were of a different color. "Hey, Kad," one of them greeted. "You see Stan anywhere?"

Kad shook his head and continued lazing about. The twins, seemingly relieved by his answer, rushed to the buffet area to grab a bite. Any lazing about that he had intended, however, was too good to last because only a moment later, the double doors slid open again. Everyone looked toward the door, and they soon broke down in either fear or great irritation when the familiar burly teen stomped through like it was no one's business, the Spearow named Zorro perching on his shoulder with a suspicious eye and a sharp beak.

"Matthew!" he called singsong; it made Kad wish he had a baseball bat—just a simple _KREEEEENG!_, and his problems would have been gone. "I know you're in here!"

Kad groaned loudly, practically to the point where he could've made everyone think that he was feeling sick—though, to be fair, he always was when he was in Stan's presence. He just had the ability to decently hide it. "What do you _want_…?" he complained.

"I believe you know what day it is?" he said in unison with his loud footsteps as he approached the lobby.

"I dunno, Stan; I feel like a bag of garbage in the morning, and I can't think straight."

Although he didn't bother looking at him, Kad knew that a smile grew on Stan's tough face, which was also completely lacking in natural sheen. "Don't tell me you've forgotten about the competition already!"

Kad couldn't think of a witty comeback, so he kept his mouth shut and proceeded to be shoved onto the floor forcibly so Stan could give himself some room to sit and turn on the console. The blue-haired kid pushed himself back up, disgruntled and cursing under his breath.

"Well, if they're not here by noon, then I'll have no choice but to call it a no-show," he said casually, as if he didn't notice that he had just pushed someone aside—but really, he acted like that all the time. It usually wasn't that personal.

However, Kad was confused. He looked around the Center and noticed that there were none of his goons around, "accidentally" destroying the decorative pottery like they usually did. For that matter… "Hey, Stan, if you're here for the competition, where's _your_ teammate?"

Zorro gave Kad the bird-equivalent of an aggressive hiss, but Stan shook his shoulder to calm the Pokémon down. "He said he's on his way soon," he told him, but the tone of his voice hid what would otherwise be a flicker of fear.

"And what happens if he doesn't get here by noon?" Kad returned, although the other just ignored him—somewhat justified as that the game's theme started playing and filled the room once again with epic grandeur. With the mere press of a button, the game's title popped up onto the screen letter-by-letter, and with another press, the menu appeared. Before long, he was choosing his weapon of choice, Donkey Kong, and smiling in anticipation of his imminent victory.

Kad just decided to shut up and play, selecting the valiant, green-clad warrior once again. _They'd _better_ get here soon. Stan's ego's big enough already…_

_

* * *

  
_

After a sadly-subpar breakfast, Ash, May, and Pikachu decided that it was high time that they returned to the Pokémon Center. Ash was rather reluctant, of course; deep down, he knew he was going to be royally creamed. His opponents' gloating would only make it worse.

But he decided to go, nonetheless. He couldn't leave Kad's wishes to see Stan dethroned hanging, and that in itself would be satisfying; he'd like to no end if Stan got what was coming to him. To Hell or high water, he was going.

May followed along on relatively weak legs—if her winces didn't make evident of the pain of her walking as a result of the incident two nights prior, then the limping certainly did. She fell a couple times, struggling a bit to get up after both. Ash, concerned that the trip would injure her further, decided to carry her himself...wedding style, no less. Of course, carrying her over his shoulder for another few miles would've been uncomfortable for both parties, but at least she was pretty lightweight.

He carried her through the late-morning busyness of the Viridian City sidewalks with nearly-paranoid eyes, whipping his head to the sides and behind him every now and then. The call for the rare burst of anger he had experienced completely shook the trust he had for that place. All people who walked were awarded with strange looks and wide eyes from the male Trainer; from strange businessmen in a rush for a short-notice meeting to the meandering punks with baseball caps and ripped jeans, all were passed the same judgment.

Was he overreacting? In a passing thought, it seemed to be the case to him—but it wasn't like he really cared. To him, all that he really wanted to do was leave and never return; with May in his arms and Pikachu on his shoulder, he already had all he needed to move on in life. That place had become a strong hindrance—a change from the simple place for them to rest, their main intention from the very start.

The three made it to the Center before long, and as the automatic doors slid open and granted them access, Ash noticed the large teenager he had mistrusted at that point focused intently on the screen—his face was wincing with suspense, fearing for his lead in the game as his large character was trapped between what seemed like two glowing, yellow triangles. An aura-clad Link was slashing at Stan's huge ape at lightning speed, the individual slashes mere blurs to a spectator's eye. Discs of light cut through the air as the magic sword cut through the poor monkey like a hot knife through butter—again and again and again.

After a few seconds, the hero froze in place and grunted, staring his dazed opponent down with his sacred blade raised. With a mighty final slash and an echoey "_SKRAAAH!_" he eviscerated the trap—and the ape—launching the poor thing in a brilliant shower of golden glass.

Ash shook himself out of the odd spell and carried May to the counter, where Nurse Joy gaped with her hand to her mouth. "What happened?" she asked, eyes wide; her voice, terse and panic-filled.

"Long story," he replied simply, laying May on a stretcher held by one of the Joys' recognizable Chanseys in nurse tiaras.

Nurse Joy quickly fumbled for her gloves and proceeded to examine the beat-up girl. Ash stood, nervous, twitching with anxiety every time she "_tsk-tsk_"ed at the damage and carefully checked the partially-blood-soaked bandages. "How did she get this way?"

Ash clenched his eyes shut. "I don't want to talk about it…" Just the look on his face was enough for her to understand, however, so she respected his wishes and dropped the subject.

After a few more seconds of looking May over, she turned to the Trainer and finished with, "I'll do my best," a smile on her face, however worried. With a wave of her hand, she ushered the Chansey to the operation room, out of sight. He had to admit that he felt better that she was now in good hands, but as he wasn't there to monitor them, he still couldn't help but feel uneasy. Still, in the end, he found it best to just let the nurse do her job. She never failed to heal his critically-injured Pikachu all those years ago, after all.

The other guys were still playing their game, the winning side undecided at that point. With no concern for the outcome, Ash approached them and ruffled his throat with a cough. Just as he had hoped, it got their attention—effectively making them fully unaware of the fact that both had lost a stock at the same time from a runaway bomb.

"Ah," a clearly ticked-off Stan muttered, "the pipsqueak's here…"

Kad, on the other hand, looked at the clock and smirked. "It's about time you got here. Another forty-five minutes, and we would've had to forfeit."

Ash couldn't explain it, but focusing his eyes on Stan's ugly mug ticked him off somehow. Of course, he never exactly found him appealing from the beginning, and after the way he looked at May from Day 1, and after how she was almost… His instincts practically ignited his skin trying to avoid thinking about it. "Sorry, Kad, but I'm not really in the mood," he snapped.

"Geez," Kad staggered from the sudden outburst. "Did a Beedrill sting you or something?"

Ash shielded his eyes with his hand, trying his best to relax. "Sorry. Last night was murder."

Kad chuckled darkly. "Well, if I were stuck all night with a girl like that, then I guess I would be annoyed out of my skull, too."

Surprisingly, Stan said nothing; all he did was glare back at Ash, like he was able to read his mind. His eyes were steadily shrinking to slits, but it didn't seem like he'd jump him at that instant. It made him uneasy, yes, but he glared back and stood his ground.

"What are we doing, then?" Kad asked the others. "I take it you don't want to compete anymore?"

Ash said nothing. All he could do was lower his gaze to the floor. With an exasperated grunt, Kad got up out of his seat and pulled him to the side, out of earshot of an apparently-nosy Stan, who was trying his best to eavesdrop without their knowing; it didn't work, of course.

"What's up, man?" Kad asked him. "Do you not want to shoot Stan's planet-sized ego to the ground anymore? What's going on?"

It took a while before Ash opened his mouth in reply. "I do. Very, very, _very_ much. But last night, something happened that made me realize that there are things much more important than these games… Maybe even becoming a Master itself pales in comparison…"

Kad sneered. "You guys didn't…well, you know…did you?"

"No! No! Not like that!" Ash panicked, waving his hands in front of himself, but it still didn't stop Kad from sneering. "Well…we _did_ get close and, well…k—" He couldn't finish, but the blue-haired kid in front of him widened his eyes in both surprise and glee.

"I _knew_ you two were going steady! I called it!" he yelled. As nearly empty as the Pokémon Center was, all the people in the building had their attention grabbed by the news, and it was only confirmed by Ash's steadily-reddening face.

"Why do you always assume these things about us, Kad?"

"C'mon, man. For someone like you, anything that makes something like becoming a Master be meaningless in comparison must be pretty freaking huge."

"Well, yeah…" he muttered, nodding slightly while trying to hide his face.

"…But still, why did it have to be _her_?" Kad asked with a slap to his forehead. "You could do better than that, surely?"

Ash's eyes flared. "Hey, May's an amazing person!" he defended. "She's kind, sweet, caring, and treats her Pokémon as if they were her children! What's so bad about that?"

Kad turned his back and crossed his arms. "That's what _all_ new couples say these days…" he breathed with irritation in his voice. "They only look at the positives and leave themselves vulnerable to the negatives. Before you know it, Fine Legs over there's going to be with another man, while _you_ stand at the side and feel your heart crumple like paper."

"She'd never do that! I've known her for years! Besides, she does try to mend misunderstandings when they occur. It was her idea in the first place to give you those flowers over there to make up."

Kad turned around to face him again, a dumbfounded look in his eyes. "Flowers?"

"For some reason, she insisted." He waved his hand over to the counter, and surely enough, there was a small, lonely bouquet of flowers lying on its side, waiting to be picked up.

_Odd_, Kad thought. He found it even odder how he managed to carry it and May at the same time… _But whatever. A gift's a gift._ With quick steps and suspicious eyes, he walked toward the counter and grabbed the stem of the bouquet.

His eyes widened when he realized just what kind of flowers they were—_pink carnations_.

Soon, his widened eyes narrowed into a pitch-black glare, his hands acting on their own accord. With swift blurs of motion, he tore open the bouquet and scattered the contents all over the floor. There was no sound from his actions; but the anger and, surprisingly, deep grief spoke louder than any screaming would have. Petals flew in all directions as he attacked the flowers without any seeable mercy.

Ash stood there shocked, feeling the apparent pain in Kad's chest as he turned to the side, his glasses steamed from both rage and sorrow. His deed done, he trudged to the bathroom and tried slamming the door…to no avail, given the engineering, but it didn't stop him from trying.

A mere second later, Stan and the twins started laughing. Given Kad's confusing behavior, Ash didn't know whether to join along or to dope slap them. "What the heck…?"

"I never saw him do that before!" Stan chortled. "I don't know what you did, kid, but I commend you for pushing him farther than I could!"

All Ash did was glare at him in reply, and it did do a good job of shutting him up. He wasn't up to keeping up that kind of face, however, so he lightened up his frown and took a seat at the end of the couch.

"So," the huge teen began, "what's going on, then? Are you and your chick ready for the smackdown?"

"I am," he replied, "but May isn't."

"Oh? Why's that?"

Ash could hear the false concern in his voice, but he answered regardless. "She was attacked last night by a bunch of _brainless_ thugs. She won't be able to comfortably hold anything in her hands for a while."

"So does that mean you forfeit?" Stan smiled.

"Get real!" Ash snapped. "Besides, I don't see your partner anywhere."

"He'll be here. Don't you worry."

Ash stood up. "Forget it. I'll find a substitute myself." He walked toward the area where May was being treated and sat down and waited. Looking up, he saw the clock say that it was about twenty after eleven, and he sighed impatiently. _I can't wait until this whole mess is over…_

_

* * *

  
_

Kad felt miserable, sitting alone in the toilet booth. He couldn't explain why, but he was so full of sadness and rage that he couldn't bring the tears to show it. He always thought of it as a weakness, not being able to show his emotions through tears; therefore, he always had to rely on actions. Maybe it was a birth defect or something. That was always his hand-wave of choice.

_With you around, I can't rely on myself to forget_, he thought angrily as he wiped his glasses clean of fog. _I swear your personalities are mirror images of each other…_

_

* * *

  
_

_He watched as he saw the last few bills from his wallet disappear from his hands. The shopkeeper handed him a bag full of items and gave him a terse, "Have a nice day," but he already walked through the front door before he could finish._

_With the mere snap of a finger, Kad's remaining savings were reduced to essentially zero. As sad as he was for that to happen, he tried his best to shrug it off. Her birthday didn't come along everyday, after all. _She should like these new Poké Balls that just got onto the market, anyway. "Perfect for catching Bug and Water Pokémon!" the ad said. If they lied to me…well, then there's always this nice piece of jewelry I picked up.

_Of course, he was referring to the black box in his pocket, which held a beautiful, yet expensive, silver chain necklace. It was a real nighttime beauty; the charms, with the ethereal essence of the stars and the crescent moon themselves, were carefully lined up as if it were to match an actual syzygy. _She's always loved the stars. I think she'll love this, too.

_He strolled back to her house, glad that he no longer needed to rush. He wasn't far from April's house, and he wasn't out for long—only for an hour or so, if he remembered correctly._

_While he was out, the city was considerably busier. It must've been rush hour or something; it made sense, since he himself was beginning to feel the hunger pangs from a dinner fast approaching. It could wait a little while longer, though; predictably, April would be thoroughly ticked off at him for putting greater priority on the meal than the gift. He could easily find the hypocrisy behind that, but for the sake of his blood pressure, he tried to ignore it._

_Before long, he was at April's doorstep once again. The golden light from the evening sun didn't do a bad job of making the unkempt paintjob look more appealing—but then again, the evening always had a tint of nostalgia in the color of its rays._

_Kad shook himself out of the sentimentality and knocked on the door. Strangely, the force of the knock creaked it open—odd, since April's family always had the pet-peeve of ajar doors. But then again, it wasn't a part of her room, so she probably didn't really care. Thinking nothing of it, he walked inside._

"_April?" he whispered, trying to prevent waking up the girl's mother, who was still soundly sleeping on the couch. He tiptoed past her and opened the door. "Hey, April. I have the stuff."_

_Just then, he wish that he could have shielded his eyes and run out of the house at the snap of his own fingers—but he couldn't move. The sight was too horrible for him to formulate a coherent response, or any response at all._

_April was there…but so was someone else. They were lying down, fondling each other and making out. When he said her name, it was like they didn't know he was there; they just kept at it._

_He lost all feeling in his fingers. With a crash, the gift dropped to the floor, leaving the contents to scatter and roll like lost marbles. _What…?_ was one of the few words that he could think of at that point. _What's going on!? _He could also see that their clothes were loose for whatever reason, but that was the farthest that he could bring himself to think of the matter; that detail was just icing on the cake._

Was this all a lie!? _He no longer cared if anyone was sleeping in the other room—not even if there were people sleeping across the street. He roared, the anger blasting out of him like a hydrogen bomb. One could almost see the windows shake in fear of the outburst, or even shatter just like his feelings just had._

_At least now they had his attention._

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!?_" he bellowed. The roar almost made her and the anonymous guy topple over onto the floor._

"_Kad! What are you doing here?"_

"Don't give me that!_" he screamed back. "What is this…_guy_ doing here!?"_

"_Uh…" She started stuttering and looked around the room for anything to bail her out—an idea, a thought. "He's…no one, Kad!"_

"_April!" the guy protested. "'No one'?" He turned to Kad, his hair completely messed up. "Look, man, I don't know who you are, but April and I have been dating for weeks now. I'm her boyfriend."_

"_No, you're not!" he argued back. "I am!"_

"_Look, Kad," April found herself say, despite the fear in her voice. "It's over. I can't keep this up anymore."_

"…_What's gotten into you?" Kad whispered. "What did I do to make you want to turn on me? And go to _that guy_!?"_

"_Sorry, but after some thought, I really don't think you and I are meant to be together."_

_He always loved arguing with people. Now, more than ever, he wanted to argue against that. Deep down, he knew that she was lying…but he didn't know what to say to counter that. All he had was questions, not words in his defense. "You didn't even bother telling me?"_

"_I figured that you would've found out eventually…"_

That's enough. I can't take this…_ Before he had the chance to lose the feeling in his legs, too, he burst out of the room, through the living room, and out of the house. The shock almost made him feel sick, and he thought he wouldn't be able to run without throwing up. Fortunately, that never happened, but he never really would care if it did._

_He gasped as he felt the evening air. It made him feel a little better regarding his stomach—but the feeling inside remained. He didn't know if he would be able to trust girls anymore after that. To think that she had led him on for so long, no hint of that happening beyond what was always there…_

_He looked back at the homely house for the last time, devastated. That was the last time he saw golden sunlight on that house, and it pained him to realize that he wouldn't see it in that way again._

_Looking farther back, he noticed that there was a newly-purchased vase of pink carnations on the doorstep._

_

* * *

  
_

Ash carefully opened the bathroom door and peeked inside. "Kad? Are you okay?"

A grunt was the reply.

He couldn't think of very effective confiding words to follow from that. As he stood next to the door of the booth, all he could do was think about what he already knew of his behavior—nothing—and the competition in a few minutes.

"Look, Kad," he started with a little hope of making the upset teen feel better, "I'm sorry that I don't understand what you're feeling, or why you're feeling it. If you told me, I'd be able to put the pieces together. Come on. Why don't you tell me what's wrong?"

"Because I don't want to talk about it, that's why," Kad continued grunting.

"It can't be May's fault, can it?"

Silence. Kad's emotions required a scapegoat for what had happened in the past, for he never found out what became of that girl for maybe three years now. To him, of course, May was the closest to that archetype, but there was something about blaming her like that that failed to satisfy him. "I'm not sure," was what his logic said to both Ash and him.

"She didn't mean you any harm, you know. I'm sorry if you thought that's was the true meaning behind the flowers."

Just like that, the booth door opened, and a bloodshot Kad stepped out and distraughtly looked at the other Trainer. "It's just that…I can't forget it," he muttered slowly, almost as if to completely grasp the concept himself. "I'm trying to forget the things that have happened, but with her around, they keep coming back."

Ash put a firm hand on Kad's shoulder. "I'm sure that May doesn't wish these things on you. If she were here, I'm positive that's what she would say." Kad didn't say anything to respond, but he did raise his eyes to his in full attention. "If you don't want to tell me, that's fine. Maybe I wouldn't completely understand it anyway. But I ask you…please don't think of May as an enemy. She certainly doesn't want people to be against her, especially not after what happened last night."

Predictably, no words left Kad's mouth; however, the look of sorrow and rage was gradually replaced with understanding and acceptance. His new attitude spoke novels to Ash.

"So what do you want to do, Kad?" He lifted his hand from his shoulder but left it out in front of himself, open. The other looked at it for a couple seconds before firmly shaking it and having the new, determined look on his face grow into his dominant mindset.

"All right, Ash. You're on," Kad finally said with a smile.

* * *

The Pokémon Center was getting more and more packed by the minute as the 12:00 event quickly approached. The news spread quickly around the city, apparently, since faces that neither Ash nor Kad had ever seen before had come to see what exactly was going on. However, it also helped that it was around lunchtime and that Trainers were often at their busiest at that time; that, of course, meant more injured Pokémon for an already-preoccupied Nurse Joy to care for.

Stan and his goons waited around the console, taking admission money from all those curious. "That's right!" one of them called out in carnie-like manner. "We have a tournament today, everyone! If you're interested, the price to watch is five credits!" A line of people filed up in front of him and started handing out money like a dealer would with playing cards.

"Wow," Ash said with an open jaw, "I didn't think there'd be this many people here to watch the competition."

"Well, you know how pompous Stan is," Kad replied, shaking his head and rolling his eyes.

Soon, the two Trainers were approached by a red-clad girl in bandages and with a happy look on her face. "Hey, Ash!" she said as she tackled him with a hug.

He could hardly see the red blur coming, but when he felt her embrace, he laughed. "Hey, May! Are you feeling any better?"

"Not particularly," she frowned, "but Nurse Joy said I should be fine after a couple weeks or so. These bandages are nice and clean, at least." She lifted up her hands, which, surely enough, were still bandaged pretty heavily, but at least they were professionally applied, not to mention disinfected properly.

Kad didn't say anything in her presence—which was good, because May didn't say anything to him, either. A strange look—concerned, uncomfortable, or otherwise—was all she directed at him that could've passed as casual conversation from a passing outsider.

In all fairness, she was about to say something to him, but before she could, Stan approached them, as haughty as ever. "Well…it's almost time. Do you have a replacement partner yet?"

Ash glanced at Kad, who nodded back with fiery pupils. "Yes, I do," he replied. "What about your partner?"

Stan frowned. "There's a funny story about that, actually. Apparently, Mark couldn't make it, so I'm stuck with this dude called John. Let's see how this turns out…" With that, he turned around and motioned both Ash and Kad to the television, with May giving the former a good-luck peck on the cheek.

_This is it,_ Ash thought with a determined smile. _I'm finally ready to show you what I'm capable of, Gary…_

"_All right! Is everybody ready to start!?_" the Center's speakers bellowed out. The growing crowd exploded with cheers of approval, their eyes now on the contenders.

_Geez,_ Kad thought irritably. _I didn't think he'd be pumped to the point of wanting to have a commentary, too…_

"_At the request of the administrator of the Pokémon Center, we intend to have this competition short and sweet. Let's try to be civil here, folks; we should try to keep this within the time frame of a half-hour._

"_The setup will be as follows: four-stock two-versus-twos with an eight-minute time limit, best two out of three. Only legal stages allowed, and all that other junk. Okay, then, let's get started. Choose your characters!_"

Stan, Kad, and Ash took a seat on the couch, followed by a short, black-haired guy sporting a sweatband on his forehead. Each picked up one of the four M-shaped controllers sitting on the coffee table and chose his character and team color—red for Stan's and blue for Ash's.

One by one, the narrator in the television proudly announced the four chosen warriors. "_Fox! Donkey Kong! Pikachu! Lucario!_" With the famous words "READY TO FIGHT!" emblazoned on the screen, the players were now ready.

"_Okay, folks, now that the contenders have selected their characters, the first stage will now be chosen at random._" Then, with a cheer from audiences on either side of the television, the screen went dark, and the game started to load.

After a few seconds, the screen switched to a dark stage, an area completely lit by nothing in particular. As per usual, the game's narrator loudly counted down from three and flagged the fighters to start the match.

The stage was constructed almost entirely out of metal, like it was supposed to be a futuristic facility of some kind. In the background was a large, lizard-like being hungrily looking at the fighters from behind some large tube. The stage itself was relatively straightforward: a flat straightaway with platforms on either side. It was kind of small for a stage, but at least there wasn't much obstructing the view.

With the aforementioned countdown, the fighting started, and everyone began whamming at each other without too much thought for defense. All the controllers started clicking madly as the analog sticks were bashed out as far as they were made to. All the people behind them started their chants for whatever team they were cheering for, some even going so far as to gamble on the winner.

"Twenty credits on the Red Team!" they all heard somebody say, while another countered with, "Red sucks! Twenty-_five_ on the _Blue_ Team!" Needless to say, all players tried their best to ignore it—unless, of course, they were the ones being cheered on.

It wasn't necessarily too bad of a start for the Blue Team; it was hardly a few seconds into the match when Stan's percentage meter was jacked up to about 80-100%, but unfortunately, this was soon counterbalanced by one of Kad's attacks, who flung Ash's Lucario right off the left side of the screen, a stock lost.

"Ugh! Sorry, Ash," he apologized. Ash thought nothing of it, because soon, there was a loud siren coming from the speakers. They blared for a couple seconds, but that only caused him to panic more, being unfamiliar with the stage.

"Uh-oh! What's going on!?"

"Ash, jump!"

Suddenly, with a _whoosh_, the stage completely flipped over; it was now a stage with a dented straightaway and a lone platform above the center. The change was made even more evident by the disappearance of the giant lizard thing.

However, when Ash found himself still alive, he didn't really mind it that much; he was now too busy focusing on Stan's Donkey Kong to really worry about falling to his death from the surprise transformation. With a nicely-placed attack, he managed to throw the oversized ape forward and finish his stock. It was made even more satisfying when he heard an irritated grunt coming from Stan's end of the couch, to which he grinned.

The battle raged on, and John's Fox was still alive and kicking after a prolonged lifetime. "Come on, you furry…" Kad chanted. "Why won't you _die_!?" There was a loud _zap_, and then ensuing cheers accompanied the space animal's flight toward the right; miraculously, though, he managed to survive.

From the corner of his eye, Ash saw that a barrel had broken, and that's when everyone in the room gasped—the powerful, much-coveted rainbow ball had appeared. "_There it is, everyone! Now it's just a matter of time before we see what team gets the upper hand in this match!_"

All the players rushed after it, and like a frightened butterfly, the ball tried to fly out of the fighters' reach. It didn't last long, however…for with a nice upward kick, John's Fox broke it open and acquired the frightening battle aura that came with it. Groans and cheers alike from the audience exploded from behind the players as the dreaded word, "_LANDMASTER!_" rang from the speakers. Fox made a jump, and only a second afterward, a large tank fell from the sky and proceeded to wreak havoc.

The blast from the jump made Kad's Pikachu soar upward. Still, all thought of carnage ensuing was short lived, for John didn't really seem to know what he was doing; by the end of it, he effectively managed to knock a stock out of his own team member.

"_Ooh, bad move from the Red Team!_" the commentator bellowed, and everyone definitely seemed to agree—but whether or not people liked the move or not, of course, varied from person to person.

"John! What the heck was that!?"

"Sorry, Stan! This controller's terrible, that's all."

"That better not cost us the match, man. I don't want to be the one pitied with the counterpick here." John shuddered and went back to the game, hopping back into the fray from another powerful attack from Kad's Pikachu.

The match raged on. Attacks were blown, items were thrown, and bodies flew in all directions. From the outside, it didn't look like there was much teamwork at all; many of the deaths were, in fact, team kills. That instilled fear into all of them, especially Stan, who was on his last stock at 133%.

Another gasp. The rainbow ball appeared again. Strangely, all it took was one or two attacks—with Kad being the lucky one this time. His Pikachu raised for the heavens and exploded in another ball of blue electricity, raging across the screen with devastation following.

"Aw, come on!" Stan cried when his Donkey Kong fell from the top and out of sight, Team-Rocket-style.

"_Stan has been defeated, everyone! The match is left with John, Ash, and Kad; but it doesn't look like Ash is going to last much longer!_" With only one stock left and 109% damage, that was easily verifiable.

A strong kick left Fox, and in the blink of an eye, both Pikachu and Lucario flew out of the arena. "_Yep, there goes Ash. Now we're down to just Kad and John, one stock each. They'll need to mindgame each other like crazy to come out over the other._"

It started out with mind games, sure, but when Kad's Pikachu lifted a trophy above his head, causing a yellow-caped guy to materialize from nothing, it hardly became a very fair fight.

"_Kad picked up an Assist Trophy. Oh, and it looks like Isaac's going to help out. Let's see if John can pull through despite the Move disadvantage._"

With the giant hands popping out and hindering his movement, it was kind of hard to, but after a while, Isaac disappeared and left the two fighters alone. The mindgaming was on once again.

Before long, the sirens came back. Both tried to get out of each other's way to not get screwed from the stage rotation, but unfortunately for John, Fox got caught from under the stage. Fire engulfed the animal as he tried to blast himself to the top to save himself, but it was no use.

"_GAME! The winner is…Blue Team!_" Amidst the winning fanfare, the audience exploded into both cheers and groans.

"Yes!" Ash and Kad echoed, high-fiving each other. From his shoulder Pikachu joined in with the celebrating, as did May, however little in comparison to the others she was cheering.

"_And that's the end of Match 1! The Red Team will have to come up with a pretty good counterpick to get that win back!_"

"Confound it, John!" Stan exclaimed in harmony with his disgruntled Spearow. "Why didn't you jump!?"

John shrugged. "The jump button didn't work for some reason. I pressed it, but it didn't register, so I couldn't use my recovery move in time."

"I told you I didn't want us to be stuck with the counterpick. Now we have to work to get us tied again!"

"Sorry, man, but I can't control when controllers work and when they don't."

Stan scoffed and swapped controllers. "There, happy? Now stop complaining and get ready for the next match…" John looked happy as a result of the controller switch, testing the jump button and comparing it to his standards. He gave it a thumbs-up as soon as it passed his test, but Stan wasn't really paying attention.

"_Okay! Time for Match 2! All players may now reselect their characters._"

John was the only one to change characters this time. It looked like he didn't even want to, like some force inside him was coercing him to gamble between tactics and power. It seemed power won out in the end: "_Ganondorf!_" the narrator called once again, and with another cheer from the speakers, they were all back to the stage selection screen, trying to shake their nerves for the coming match.

"_It is time for the Red Team to choose its counterpick. For your sake, pick a good one._"

Stan hummed in thought, hovering the cursor over potential stages. It wasn't long before he found one he wanted, and another cheer sounded from the speakers as the game loaded once again.

"_The Red Team has chosen Norfair, apparently. Maybe the lava will give them the advantage they need._" The three guys on the commentary panel didn't really seem to think so, judging by the ensuing snicker.

"_THREE! TWO! ONE! _GO!" the narrator shouted once again, starting a brand new match on a stage surrounded by searing-hot magma. Inside a volcano, perhaps?

_Bah, whatever. Let's just get this over with,_ Ash thought with a shake of his head, but still, the shape of the stage was rather atypical of the other stages he had seen: It consisted entirely of small, flat platforms in a delta position, the _V_ opening up to the heavens, as if asking for air from the world above the volcanic hell it was in.

It was hard for Ash to analyze the stage and fight at the same time, but at least he didn't get taken aback from the tall man in dark attire, proudly displaying feats of power that he hadn't seen much elsewhere. He had a demeanor about him that made his skin crawl. By how he sounded carrying out all of his attacks, it was like he had a thirst for his blood. It was definitely not an easy thing to handle while trying to play.

Before long, molten rock started to rise from the bottom of the stage, and each player scrambled to the top platforms to avoid the fiery rage. Some were rather unlucky, though, sustaining two or three hits' worth of damage. It didn't help that there was a huge _globe_ of magma coming from the right side; Stan had the misfortune of getting caught from that one and almost flying off the screen.

"Drat! What was I thinking, picking this stage!?"

"Wow, there's lava _everywhere_," Ash growled as a tsunami of magma rushed toward the stage. Everyone scrambled to the shelter in the center, except for, seemingly, John's Ganondorf.

"_It's hard to tell what John was thinking there. The lava hazard just cost him a stock,_" the one of the guys on the panel muttered. "_They're lucky that this is still early in the match; there's still ground for the Blue Team to cover to come out on top._"

Throughout the level, three strange, rotating items were flying everywhere when people got hit. There was a strange sting in sound when one picked them up, but as far as Ash knew, they didn't do anything. He didn't recall seeing those items before…

"Ash, make sure the other team doesn't pick up those pieces," Kad warned.

Far be it for him to question that logic, so he did his best to scuttle for them himself. _Shouldn't be that hard,_ he thought.

Regrettably, it was much harder than he thought; only one attack was needed to drop the pieces, and with two people out to get him, it proved impossible to get all of them at once.

There was a growl from the screen, and purple fire flared from Ganondorf's fist. With a charge of a mere second, he blasted his fist forward in a mighty punch, sending all three people flying. Luckily for the Red Team, Stan was at a low percentage, so he didn't fly far. Ash and Kad, on the other hand…

"_OOH! He actually managed to have a Warlock Punch connect! Even more, he managed to get a double K.O.! What a very well-timed move on John's part!_" This made John smile, of course; if one didn't know any better, one would think that he was then imagining all starry eyes being on him—it was _his_ moment of glory.

The punch was a heavy blow to the Blue Team, dropping their total stock count to four, a sharp contrast to the Red Team's six. "_The Blue Team will have to work extra hard to make up for that lost ground!_"

And they tried, but the odds in their favor were steadily decreasing as the seconds ticked by. Before long, their stock count dropped by two more, but fortunately for them, so did the other team. Mostly, it was due to Stan committing suicide, and once more to John connecting another Warlock Punch on him, knocking him out of the game.

A good Aura attack from Ash launched John off the screen, bringing the stock count from both sides to two. Tensions were high as both Ash and Kad had only about half of a stock left each, with John left with two whole stock. "_Just when we thought that John had redeemed himself from a good attack, we see that reverse on him again! Stan is out of the match. It's still anyone's game at this point._"

The comeback was too good to last, as Ash was finally put to rest from an incoming magma hazard. It was officially an uphill battle for them.

"_Now Ash is out of the match! This may actually be a successful counterpick for the Red Team!_"

"Come on, Kad!" Ash cheered. "Don't give up!"

Then the match was all about trading blows between each contender. Kad was getting closer and closer to losing his last stock as his damage meter climbed. Both sides were also struggling between collecting the three pieces that had already traded hands a dozen times over—but Kad eventually had a break when he finally collected the third piece and suddenly flew into the sky.

"_Uh-oh! Kad assembled the Dragoon!_" The crowd got a little louder from the excitement as crosshairs appeared on the screen. The aiming was a little tricky, but he managed to ram the flying machine into the black-and-red-clad thief, a distinctive _KREEEEENG!_ sound following.

"_And just like that, the stock count is tied again! However, John just needs one more strong attack to send that electric mouse out of here! This is the home stretch, folks!_"

It didn't last long after that; John's Ganondorf gave Kad's Pikachu a simple backhand, which was easily enough to send him flying.

The match was over once again, and now it was the Red Team's turn to celebrate. "Now _that's_ how you choose a counterpick!" Stan bragged. The usual pattern of celebrate-or-growl ensued, but this time, it was Kad's turn to recoil in panic.

"Crap. We lost our lead…" he said from behind his hands.

Ash gave him a reassuring pat on the back. "It's okay, Kad. It's not over yet. We still have one more match."

"But remember, Ash—if we lose, we'll have Stan's narcissism to deal with. Worst of all, I'll never be able to live it down with him breathing behind my neck 24/7…"

Ash remained silent for a second so he himself could ponder. _Believe me—I want to show that guy what-for, too…_ If they did lose, he wouldn't be able to find closure to his own past rivalry as easily, either…but he couldn't allow himself to think that way. Once more, he turned to him and said, "Kad…if we keep thinking we're going to lose, we will. We just need to focus on the match, not the outcome. We can think of the outcome afterward, all right?"

It took Kad a little while to think, but ultimately, he agreed, replying with a simple, yet flattering, "Whatever you say, boss."

"_This is the moment we've all been waiting for, folks!_" they heard the panel among the bustling crowd, which had almost grown to the size of the entire Pokémon Center lobby floor by that time._ The final round! We're almost overdue for our time here, so let's cut the penultimate chatter and get right into it. Choose your characters carefully, now!_"

Once again, there was only one change; surprisingly, it was Stan's changing to the iconic rival Wario, with his zigzaggy mustache and large, red nose. One screen later, it was the Blue Team's turn to pick the next stage. Kad turned to Ash for support, but Ash only shook his head.

He fearfully closed his eyes as he pressed the green button on his controller and chose the stage. "_Looks like the Blue Team's going to play it a little safe this time around. It's time for Final Destination!_" It was hard to tell whether or not the audience approved of the stage selection or not, but what could be determined was that the audience was at the edge of their seats in anticipation—never mind the fact that all of them were standing up to start with, of course.

The stage's atmosphere was certainly appropriate for a final showdown. The thing itself was a flat platform, nothing else, suspended in dark space, decorated with strange planets and beautiful spiral galaxies. It was surreal, like a creator's dream—the mesh, the seam, of the realms of reality and fantasy.

At that point, it no longer mattered what was real or what wasn't; for some reason, the four contenders fighting on that stage seemed to…"fit" the world without any noticeable contrast. When it came down to it, it seemed that they, too, had a personal reason for fighting at that place at that time.

As usual, the narrator was ready for them. With one final countdown, the match began.

Little could actually be said about the first half of the match, to be honest. The tables changed hands multiple times as blows were dealt to either team surprisingly equally. Mistakes for all players were rather minimal for a great deal of time, and that did a great job of raising the players' tensions even higher.

"_Wow, this is actually a pretty close match!_" the commentary stated in astonishment. "_Both sides are tied with four stock. …Uh-oh, there's the Excitebike Assist Trophy… Yeah, that didn't do much good…_"

As the players' nerves escalated, so, too, did the audience's excitement. Not a second passed without at least one of the players' names being called out; Ash thought that he'd never get tired of hearing his own name… It only got worse from that point when the stock level steadily got lower and lower. Soon, all players only had one stock each, and both Ash and May thought that it would probably take a day or so to completely recover from the hearing loss.

Cheers for both the Blue Team and Red Team grew louder and more numerous than before, even noticeably after only one second in time. One could almost feel the bass of the uproar in his or her chest and head; it was almost enough to make one feel sick or claustrophobic.

John's Ganondorf elbowed two characters and launched them well beyond the stage boundaries, a rarity that rivaled the Warlock Punch given the attack's slow startup lag. Unluckily for him, though, one of the characters was Stan's Wario. That meant…

"_This is it! Each team only has one stock left. This is the final match-up! The home stretch!_"

Ash was tense now, being the only person left to win the match-up for the Blue Team. It was hard to play when his fingers were twitching almost uncontrollably, and harder still when conflicting cheers were blasting in either direction. "Go Ash!" he heard them say, as well as, "Get 'im, John!" Needless to say, his concentration staggered between the screen and the surrounding sound.

Ash was lucky to be able to string together multiple upward kicks from the ground, launching the King of Evil up and down like a badminton bird. "John! Thunderstomp him! Don't let him juggle you!" But it was too late: A soccer ball that had appeared at the edge was launched up into the air in a fiery blaze, leaving almost as soon as it had appeared. By some fluke, random or by fate's humor, the ball had struck one of them. The final pillar of fire had blasted from the side of the screen, marking the death of the final character and finally bringing the match to a close. Those who had a hard time seeing the screen couldn't very well tell who it was who won; they had a better chance choosing a winner blindfolded. But then the results came in that settled the score for everyone there:

"_The winner is…Blue Team!_"

Ash didn't know what happened after that. Upon thinking back, he could've sworn that there was a bomb in the building and everyone was scrambling to get out, but that didn't explain the happy cheers and pats on the back from his end of the room. With the deafening roar and the shock from his own victory, he couldn't hazard a guess.

It felt good either way. _Really_ good.

Before he knew it, Kad was punching him on the shoulder and patting him on the back with more heart than ever. "Ash, you did it! We won!" he exclaimed, trying hard not to be knocked over from the also-excited crowd.

May hugged him as hard as she could, but she tried her best not to choke him. Pikachu himself was so excited he gave Ash a small jolt. He laughed as the tiny charge pulsed through his body, and he laughed even more when he saw the defeated look on Stan's face—or however much he could see from it; it was evident the overwhelmed teenager didn't want anyone else to see his shame.

"Hey, Stan," Kad called over to him, teasingly, "We should try this again sometime!"

He couldn't hear him over the sound of the rejoicing—or even over his own voice. "John! You blew it again! I told you not to let him juggle you!"

"Sorry," Ash thought he heard John reply with. "I'm just not good with games with items."

"I've had enough with your excuses!" was all he yelled before he stormed off in Ash's direction, almost looking like he was ready to deck someone. The rage on his face was as manifest as the shame; it was almost pitiful to look at. "Not bad, not bad," he said, his voice shaky from irritation. May tried her best to distance herself from his person.

"I guess this means you're not the best anymore, doesn't it, Stan?" Kad taunted with a glare.

Stan couldn't say anything particularly coherent as an immediate response, other than an audible growl and hardening his fists, and while he tried to think about it for a few seconds, all he could come up with was, "Shut up, Matthew! It's bad enough that I can't show my face around here again!"

"Stan, it's just a game," Ash replied calmly, a stark contrast to Kad's provoking demeanor. "Why does it matter?"

Stan took a step toward him and towered over him like any high school bully would, but Ash still stood his ground, making sure to come between him and May, who was growing steadily more uneasy in his presence. "Because, obviously unlike the likes of all of you, I'm a _man_," he asserted, trying his best to cast his shadow over the Pallet Trainer's face. "A man never loses! He keeps pushing forward and never accepts defeat! But now…it just seems that's not the case here. But now what's worse is that I don't have that girl on my shoulder like you do." As he motioned to May, she took another cautious step back.

"Sorry, Stan," Ash voiced, still as calm as ever, despite the towering teen, "but I'd never let the likes of you get near her. I'm sure most of the people here wouldn't let you, either."

Just then, one of Stan's fists flew right in front of him and slugged him in the face, knocking him down. Everyone immediately quieted down to see the commotion; it was amazing how such a loud crowd could silence itself so quickly, as Kad quickly realized when he could still hear the ringing in his ears.

May rushed to Ash's side and tried to ignore the teen still towering above them. "Ash!" she yelped. "Are you all right!?" After shaking the blow out of him like a dog would with water, he nodded with a smile. The smile wasn't so much a result of really being okay and trying to reassure her than it was when he saw Pikachu in an offensive stance, his cheeks flickering with sparks.

Stan laughed. "Oh, come on! You think your rat can hurt me? Get 'im, Zorro!" The bird on his shoulder squawked and rushed toward the electric mouse in a swift swoop. He avoided it with no problem at all and proceeded to zap both it and the Trainer at once with a Thundershock. As interesting as the ensuing fight was for the others, they began to think that the building would suffer heavy damage and be in another large-scale explosion like it was a few years ago. With some panicked screaming, they rushed out the double doors and left the two opposing Trainers and the two spectators to finish their business.

Unbeknownst to the leaving crowd, the battle was already over—a curb-stomp battle; all it took was one Thundershock to render a charcoaled Zorro unable to battle. Stan, also dazed from the shock, proceeded to recall his Pokémon and dash out of the Pokémon Center with the others. "You're crazy, man! I'm never going to forget this!" With that final phrase, he was gone, invisible among the panicked crowd outside.

"Excellent work, Pikachu!" Ash congratulated. Satisfied, Pikachu climbed back onto his shoulder and chirped his obligatory "Pika!" of approval.

"Huh," Kad grunted with satisfaction, "I guess that's the last time I have to worry about Stan ever again. Thanks a lot, Ash."

Ash offered a handshake, which Kad immediately accepted. "No problem, Kad. It was nice to finally see his kind get shot down in flames."

Kad laughed. "I know what you mean. People as narcissistic as that drive me nuts. I don't see how anyone could be as arrogant as that…"

Instantly, the image of a green-haired boy rushed into May's mind. "I can…" she muttered with an embarrassed sigh. "Stan's a close second, though."

While the taste of victory was still fresh, they spent the next few minutes talking in the eatery about all that had happened, from the very beginning—from their meeting; to the challenge; to the food (May and Ash loved that particular part, of course, especially as they each enjoyed a bowl of chocolate pudding); to the near-death experience the night prior; and, finally, the actual competition. Strangely, Kad was inherently fascinated with all of it. He didn't bother saying much in reply to all of their comments, but the focused eyes told both of them that he wanted to know more.

"But you know, there's one thing I still don't get," May said with her finger to her chin. "Why did you tear up the flowers we got you, anyway?"

Kad's eyes widened in fear and vulnerability. _Ah, that's right… I forgot about that… _Much to May's dismay, he remained silent, and his eyes remained focused on the floor. She was getting impatient with his avoidance of the question, but Ash tried to convince her to forget about it.

"If he doesn't want to talk about it, he doesn't have to," he said. "It's probably not our business."

May clearly disagreed, but his statement still managed to quiet her down about the matter. From there, she would think nothing of it.

That only lasted for a few seconds, though, since Kad finally denied his feelings to the contrary and said something. It was a slow start for him, but after a few seconds, he finally tapped into the courage that was hidden inside. "It's because…something happened a few years ago that I'd rather forget about. Those flowers did a good job of reminding me what had happened. With you around (he risked a small glance at May), I can't bring myself up to forget it so easily."

May couldn't have honestly said that she understood what that meant with all she knew of him thus far. She would've asked him to say more, but when she understood that it wasn't even easy for him to come to terms with the matter, she attempted to make due anyway.

"Enough about me," Kad quickly gabbed in hopes of changing the subject. What do you guys plan on doing now?"

Then Ash knew what was about to happen. Everything that he wanted to do there was done; the competition was over, so there wasn't much more to look forward to. He slowly stood up. "I think it's probably time for us to get going," he said with a sad hint in his throat. "I still only have two months left until the Great Tournament. It's imperative now that I continue my training, and with today's competition in mind, I feel that my Pokémon and I are a bit behind."

"The Great Tournament, you say?" Kad's eyes flickered with images of fire, water, and grass filling the air like fireworks and confetti. He could almost smell the popcorn waft his way as a Gengar and Nidorino duke it out and try to conquer the other in a set of their own games of the mind and endurance. For him, though, the real clincher was the bright stadium lights—how they could make a battle seem almost impossible to sleep through. After all, how could one sleep with the lights of heaven above them and with a heated fight below them?

With a chuckle, he replied, "I wish you luck. I watch it every year, so maybe I'll see you on the big screen?"

The sad look in Ash's eyes brightened as he accepted another handshake. "I'll make sure you get your money's worth."

"I look forward to it," he said through a beam.

With that, the couple gathered their things and said goodbye to the blue-haired Trainer. As they departed, the distracted look on Kad's face told them that he had forgotten something. When he reached into his pocket, he found out what: It was a black box—the same black box that held the nigh-untouched necklace that he had intended of giving to the girl on the back of his mind all those years ago.

_What am I doing with this?_ he asked himself. He didn't remember taking it with him. Heck, he hardly remembered that he had it anymore to begin with. He thought that he had lost it, or even tossed into the forgotten recesses of his own closet.

But then he remembered that how he woke up that morning. He remembered that he went to sleep on the chairs, not the couch. It was obvious to him that someone had set him up with everything; who it was, was the mystery, sadly.

_I know what to do with this. _"Ash! Wait!" he called before they were all out of earshot.

Confused, Ash walked up to him. He was caught by surprise when he saw a black blur whiz toward him. He fumbled it for a little bit, but before long, it was safe and secure in his hands.

"Take that," he said with a wink. "I think you'll need this more than I do." Evidently confused, he asked what it was, to which Kad replied with a simple, "Just give it to the girl, okay?" With that, he turned around and waved goodbye; it was uneasy to say, but this time, it felt very final. It was only a few seconds before he disappeared from sight completely as he reentered the Pokémon Center.

Still confused, yet also a little sad from the concluding departure, Ash turned around and approached his girl, eyeing the box. "Hmm…"

"Hey, Ash?" May asked with a tilted head. "What's that you got there?"

He didn't say anything and simply handed it to her. May opened it up, and as if sunlight were trapped in the inside, a heavenly flash shot out as the necklace once again saw the light of day. The silvery light almost made her eyes water—if it wasn't the implication behind the gift, of course.

"Ash…" she whispered in shock from the awe. "Do you know what this is?"

"Um…" he stuttered. "A necklace?"

May giggled and slapped his shoulder playfully. "Of course it's a _necklace_. But do you know what kind it is?"

Ash shook his head, still obviously confused.

"Ash…this is a _couple's_ necklace."

"…A what?"

May giggled again, a blush reddening her face. In all honesty, her suddently-bubbly attitude was beginning to scare him. "Do you remember that vow we made yesterday? Well, this is essentially a more powerful variation of it, at least in a girl's eyes."

_A more powerful variation?_ "So is this like…an engagement ring?" he stuttered.

May smiled. "Not quite, but it has a similar meaning." She then grabbed his hand (as much as she could without harming her bandages, of course) and dragged him farther into the city, back toward Viridian Forest once again.

_She looks so content and without worry,_ he thought as he saw her smiling face. _I wonder if she has the same worries as I do about the whole thing…_ After a nervous cough, he asked her. "Hey, May."

"Yes, darling?" she giggled sweetly, complete with a hug that made it even harder for him to talk.

"You know, I'm still worried…" What Kad had said to him about May earlier that day was still buzzing in his mind. "I'm not sure what's going to happen down the road, but…are you sure that you won't…discard my feelings?"

"Huh? What makes you say that?"

"It's just something that Kad said earlier."

"Oh, what does he know?" she laughed, pulling the necklace out of the box and tying it around both of their necks. "Listen, Ash. I'd never want to do anything to hurt you. Ever since that day in Littleroot Town, I've wanted to get to know you more, and over the years, those feelings only grew stronger. Even with people like Drew around to try to convince me otherwise, I've never found an end for my goal in sight."

He smiled at her as she finally fastened the necklace after a little struggling with the undersized clip. It really did look nice, especially on her, he thought. It was strange, but with the chain around them both, he felt more secure and didn't care as much about the future. In a way, the necklace was like a metal security blanket. _Yeah, why should I worry? I'll be fine. I won't let any of it happen if I can help it!_

"Now let's stop worrying about what's to come!" she exclaimed, trying hard not to trip and hurt her already-quite-painful legs. "Let's just enjoy the sunshine and celebrate your victory today!"

When he thought about it, though, it really wasn't much to celebrate. Even though he did manage to show that brawn-for-brains Stan what he deserved, he still felt a little bit…cheated, in a way. After all, the biggest reason why he wanted to be in the competition in the first place was because of Gary and how Stan reminded him so much of him. In the end, he did prove himself to Gary…but his rival himself was never there to see it.

"Are you okay, Ash?" May asked.

It took a while for him to reply, but when he did, he let it all out. "Well, yes, but there's something about that win that just didn't seem right…"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, to be honest, the only reason I entered was because of Gary and how he used to taunt me over that game in the same way Stan did. I hoped that beating him would give me closure over the matter, but…"

"It didn't, did it?"

He shook his head slowly, clearly bummed out. Pikachu felt the sadness and tried his best to make the Trainer feel better by hugging his head.

Oddly, May smiled at his response. _Man, she's really chipper today!_

"Oh, I don't think you should worry about something like that. It was in the past. You can only live for what's happening right now. Thinking back on the negatives of the past will only take you to the negatives. Think about _now_."

"Yeah…" he sighed. "I guess you're right." _I still feel a little cheated out of it, though._

"Come on, Ash, don't worry about it. I mean, after all…" Suddenly, she turned his face toward hers and stole another delightful kiss. The blush from his end only made it feel more passionate. "…It's just a game," she finished with a whisper as she broke it.

It took a little thought, but he managed to understand her, paying her with another quick peck on the lips, which she happily accepted. Pikachu, in contrast, was beginning to find the lovey-dovey atmosphere to be a little _too_ sweet, expressing his discontent with a low groan. The couple didn't much care.

Ash could hardly reflect on what had happened in the past few days without being completely surprised by the short time frame. What was originally just a short trip to town quickly escalated to a challenge that he had not dwelled on for years. And then there was the sudden explosion of his feelings for May—something he never predicted would happen. At least, to his delight, she reciprocated those feelings, which had lied dormant insider her for a much longer period of time and only grew at a high rate within said short time frame.

Now the two were together. There were few things he could think of that made him as happy. It was hard at first, to be sure, since the shocking strike of the hidden arrow was swift and invisible. It took a little work, but in the end, it gave him a lovely girl to love and hold in his arms, something that he wished he had thought about sooner.

When it came down to it, all he had to do was get back up on his feet and keep moving.

…_And as we face each other in battle, locked in combat, we shine ever brighter!_

_

* * *

_**Ladies and gentlemen...that is all. _Teching Cupid's Arrow_ has come to an end.**

**Like any other fan fiction author would, I feel somewhat-bittersweet feelings about this. I'm glad that this is over and I can move on to other projects without another over-ten-thousand-word behemoth breathing down my neck and making me feel guilty, but at the same time...it's kind of sad, but in a satisfying kind of way. It's nothing for me to shed tears over, but hey, I worked insanely hard on this. It's like playing a game for so long that you can't help but remember all the good times about it. Kinda nostalgic.**

**So, then... I'd like to give a huge, huge thanks to all my reviewers and beta readers. Really, you have no idea how much impact you've had on the story. Without your support, I'd probably still be on Event II, keeping the plug pulled on it for eternity. Yet your kind words and suggestions kept this story going, and for that, I thank you.**

**I hope you enjoyed _Teching Cupid's Arrow_! This is MagmarFire, wishing you a good 2010 and a happy Brawl Day! :)**


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